There were celebrations in Brixham for Reform UK on Friday, 30 January, after the party’s candidate won a by-election for a seat on the port’s town council.

Darryl Sparkes won by 21 votes over Liberal Democrat candidate Conor Fidgeon after a poll in which fewer than one in five of the people entitled to vote actually did so.

The vacancy in the town council’s Furzeham with Summercombe ward was created by the resignation of Cllr Chloe Pavely.

Mr Sparkes recorded 772 votes to Mr Fidgeon’s 751.

A total of 1,527 people voted from an eligible electorate of 7,816, giving a turnout of 19.5 per cent.

Mr Sparkes is a member of the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust and branch secretary for Reform UK in South Devon.