Knowle by-election - so close for the Liberal Democrats

1.21.47pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 16th Sep 2005

Last night Geoff Berry and the Liberal Democrats came within a whisker of taking the previously rock-solid Knowle ward from the Conservatives in a by-election. A previous Conservative majority of around 1,460 votes was slashed to just 15!

The full result was as follows:

Conservative 1,247 votes

Geoff Berry, Liberal Democrat 1,232 votes

Green 134 votes

Labour 63 votes

Simon Foster, campaign organiser said "This result represents a massive swing from the Conservative to the Liberal Democrats, if the swing was repeated across Solihull Borough the Liberal Democrats would not only be the largest party, but have a healthy majority! This result follows the fantastic swings in the General Election in Solihull where Lorely was elected and the previous St. Alphege by-election. Solihull is far from the Conservative dominated area it once was."