Labour has won the Bitterne by-election, beating the Conservatives by a narrow 13 votes.

The by-election was held last night following the death of Conservative Councillor Terry Streets in late August.

The new Labour councillor, Yvonne Frampton, from Bitterne said she is ‘delighted’ the people of Bitterne put their trust in her.

This by-election result changes the composition of Southampton City Council to 27 Labour, 20 Conservative and one Liberal Democrat.

Cllr Frampton said: “I am really really pleased and delighted the people of Bitterne put their trust in me and the Labour party in the Bitterne by-election.

“I am looking forward to working with local communities and serving the great ward of Bitterne.

“Thank you to everybody who played a part in this success.”

The new councillor went on to talk about the ‘strength’ of the Labour party.

She said: “Labour took control of the council in May and clearly the Labour council is going from strength to strength because Bitterne is a ward we lost in May but won a few months later.

“I am looking forward to joining the leader of the council, Satvir Kaur and her team to make Southampton the best place it can be.”

Due to the closeness of the result, the Conservative group, supporting their candidate, Callum Ford, requested a recount. However the recount turned up the same 13-vote difference.

In total, 1,756 votes were cast. This is just over 18 per cent of Bitterne’s 9,772 electorate.

Out of these 1,756, minus rejected votes, the overall results were:

806 for Labour.

793 for Conservative.

66 for Green.

61 for Liberal Democrats.

26 for Trade Union and Socialist Coalition.

Labour’s Cllr Frampton will represent Bitterne alongside Conservatives Cllr Matthew Magee and Cllr Elliot Prior.

She will hold the role until the local elections in May 2023, when, for the first time in more than 20 years, due to redrawing of the ward boundaries, all 48 councillors will have to stand for election.