We are delighted to announce that Labour won the Royston Palace By Election held on 17 October 2024!

The by-election was prompted by the resignation of Chris Hinchliff, due to him winning at the General Election in July in order to become MP for North East Hertfordshire. Along with Cathy Brownjohn, Chris represented Royston Palace as a Labour councillor on North Hertfordshire District Council.

As a result, Labour had to fight a By Election. We selected our superb local candidate, Sarah Lucas, who has lived in Royston Palace for some years, and has been a North Herts resident for longer still.

We are delighted to say that Labour held onto the seat, allowing Sarah to take her seat on the council in order to represent the people of this ward in Royston.

On behalf of NE Herts CLP, we would like to congratulate Sarah and look forward to seeing her work and contribution to the Council. We would also like to thank the volunteers and activists who contributed so much time and effort into securing the seat, not only from Royston, but from right across this part of Hertfordshire and beyond, including at least four MP’s who pitched in locally. The weather wasn’t always as clement as featured in most of these pictures! It was a tight race and these efforts very likely made the difference.

The final result was:

Labour (Sarah Lucas)   302

Liberal Democrats (Gill Lewis)   298

Conservative (Callum Bartram-Bell) 280

Reform (John Froggett) 196

Green (Peter Wilkin) 88

Labour Hold

See local press report here.

Thank you, everyone.