UK Conservatives hold Cameron’s ex-seat but lose votes

LONDON: Britain’s Conservatives on Friday held onto the seat vacated by former prime minister David Cameron, who resigned after the Brexit referendum, but the party saw its share of the vote slashed.

Conservative candidate Robert Courts won the seat of Witney in southern England by 5,702 votes, with the party’s vote share falling from 60 per cent in the 2015 general election to 45 per cent.

Cameron triggered the by-election last month when he announced he was to quit his seat in parliament, less than three months after losing an EU vote in which he had campaigned to stay in the bloc.

Cameron announced he was stepping down as prime minister in June, hours after Britain’s dramatic vote to leave the European Union, handing power to his successor Theresa May in July.

Courts called Cameron “a great prime minister and a brilliant MP” as he claimed victory.

The resurgent Liberal Democrats — the Conservatives’ former coalition partners — overtook Labour to take second place in Witney.

Leader Tim Farron claimed it represented a return to the “political big time” for the centrist party following a wipeout in last year’s general election.

Elsewhere, former actress and Labour candidate Tracy Brabin was elected to replace colleague Jo Cox, who was murdered in her constituency in June. — AFP