LIBERAL DEMOCRATS from Ludlow and south Shropshire were amongst the small army of party activists celebrating a sensational by-election success in North Shropshire.

Helen Morgan, who came third in the constituency in the general election two years ago, swept to power overturning a Conservative majority of nearly 23,000.

The by-election followed the decision of Owen Paterson to stand down after being found to have broken parliamentary rules on lobbying.

Mr Paterson denied any wrong doing and initially the Government tried to save him from a House of Commons suspension by seeking a review of the rules.

But the move backfired horribly for the Conservatives, followed by a catalogue of problems for the Government including the controversial Downing Street ‘Christmas party’ last year and a large scale rebellion earlier this week against the ‘plan B’ Covid restrictions.

The Liberal Democrats were claiming victory long before the official declaration that means a seat that had been Conservative for nearly 200 years had been lost.

Helen Morgan, who polled 17,957 has a majority of 5,925

She beat Conservative Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, a former British Army Medical Officer and honorary NHS consultant who now works as a barrister, into second place. He polled 12,032 votes.

Ben Wood, the Labour party candidate was third with 3,686 votes.

There were 14 candidates.

The turn-out was 46.3 per cent, down from 67.9 per cent at the General Election of December 2019.