Reform wins Dunstable by-election
Reform UK candidate Shaun Moulster has won the party’s first seat on Dunstable Town Council, with a by-election victory margin of 169 votes.
He topped the poll in Dunstable West ward with 622 votes (38 per cent of the total cast), ahead of the runner-up and Conservative former town councillor Gloria Martin on 453 (28 per cent).
It was the first time Reform had fielded a candidate for election in Dunstable.
Stewart Mitchelmore representing the Green Party was third on 170 (ten per cent), with Patrick Obuseh of the Labour Party fourth with 149 votes (nine per cent).
Bernie Naughton for the Dunstable Independents was fifth on 144 (nine per cent), with Liberal Democrat Elizabeth Owen receiving 104 votes (six per cent).
The overall turnout was 23 per cent, compared to 30 per cent at the May 2023 local elections. Three-time former town mayor Liz Jones topped the poll for the Conservatives on that occasion, with 930 votes from an electorate of 7,211.
She resigned her seat in December, saying on social media that “increasing family health matters now require more of my time and attention”.
Another by-election is anticipated soon in Dunstable East ward, after Louise O’Riordan was taken off the local authority after failing to attend a meeting for six months.