Conservatives win first seat on Cambridge City Council with King’s Hedges by-election victory for Delowar Hossain

The Conservatives have won their first seat on Cambridge City Council following a dramatic by-election in King’s Hedges.

Mohamed Delowar Hossain – who is known by his middle name – beat Labour’s Zarina Anwar by just 24 votes to claim victory.

The by-election was called following the resignation of Labour’s former deputy council leader Alex Collis, who resigned on May 15, just 10 days after being re-elected.

Her decision followed the surprise move from Cambridge Labour to replace their leader, Cllr Anna Smith, with Cllr Mike Davey after the May 5 election.

In that poll, Mr Hossain had finished second, just 148 votes behind Ms Collis, as the Tories’ vote share surged amid discontent about congestion charge proposals for Cambridge from the Greater Cambridge Partnership, which is controlled by Labour and Liberal Democrats councillors.

Tuesday’s by-election - in which the Liberal Democrats’ Jamie Dalzell finished third and the Greens’ Elizabeth May came fourth - attracted a turnout of just 26.7 per cent, down from the 31 per cent seen in the May 5 poll in the ward.

It means the council’s make-up is now:

Labour – 26 seats
Liberal Democrats - 10 seats
Greens - 4 seats
Conservatives - 1 seat
Independent – 1 seat

King’s Hedges by-election result

Zarina Anwar, Labour - 598
Elizabeth May, Green - 142
Jamie Dalzell, Liberal Democrats - 418
Mohamed Delowar, Conservative - 622 ELECTED
Spoiled papers: 6
Turnout: 26.7 per cent