The Liberal Democrats have won the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election in a landslide victory against the Conservatives.

Jane Dodds won the seat with over 43%, with the Conservatives in a close second with 39%, just under 1,500 votes behind. The Brexit Party, having won in the region at the European elections, fell back to third place with just 10.5%.

Labour had a disappointing night, as their vote share dropped by over 12 percent and they only just held on to their deposit.

UKIP faced embarrassment after it was pushed into last place, behind even the satirical Monster Raving Loony Party.

Other parties that support a second referendum chose to back the Liberal Democrat candidate, rather than standing in the by-election themselves.

The result, which comes just a week after Boris Johnson became the new Conservative leader and Prime Minister, now reduces the government’s majority to just one. It is also the quickest by-election defeat for a new Prime Minister since the Second World War.

There have been some reports that up to five Conservative MPs had been preparing to defect to the Liberal Democrats in the event they won the by-election.

The race was widely seen as the Liberal Democrats’ to lose, as they had been the bookies’ favourite as soon as the by-election was called.

However, analysts had suggested that a ‘Boris bump’ could shift votes away from the Brexit Party to win the election narrowly.

Brecon and Radnorshire had been held by the Conservatives since the 2015 election, but a successful recall petition against then MP and Conservative candidate Chris Davies resulted in a by-election being triggered.

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