Maria Hoult, the Conservative candidate, has won the by-election for the Devizes South seat on the town council.

The results were:

Vince McNamara [Labour] 94 votes, Margaret Green [Green Party] 122, Paul Tweedle [Guardians] 221 and Maria Hoult 442.

Maria Hoult said: “I’m not sure it has really sunk in yet. We worked so hard to try and speak to so many people during the campaign and I think it’s going to take a little while to actually accept that I have won.

“Before the election I had decided to volunteer to help with the Winter festival and lantern parade the following day and would have been there whatever the result but I have to say that it was really nice to be able to be there as a councillor with my fellow Councillors Albert Wooldridge and Iain Wallis.

“I was also asked to a meeting with our MP Danny Kruger who congratulated me and we discussed my priorities for Devizes. It’s now up to me to deliver the things I promised during the election and I will do what I can, working with whoever I need to, to do just that.

“I have so many people to thank for this win. Not just those who came out and voted but also all those volunteers who joined me knocking on doors and delivering leaflets for the last month.

“I would also like to thank the other candidates as it is really hard sticking your head above the parapet and asking people to vote for you and I know how difficult it is to then not be successful. I hope they remain involved with local politics and decide to stand again at the next opportunity as it is vital that more people come forward to get involved with our community”

Cllr Iain Wallis, Mrs Hoult’s campaign manager, added: “Maria didn’t just win, it was an absolute landslide with 50 per cent of the vote and exactly twice the number of votes of the next placed candidate.

“This is testament not just to how hard everyone worked to make this happen but also to how good a candidate Maria was and how good a councillor I know she will be”

Responding to comments on Facebook regarding Conservative candidates having an advantage, Cllr Wallis said: “We live in a fairly conservative area and certainly at national and unitary level the Conservative vote is strong but that has not been the case at town council level for almost two decades now and it also dismisses how much hard work goes in to engaging with voters and making sure people know what we are about.

“Maria and her volunteers knocked on over 1,700 doors during the campaign and spoke to over 700 people. She also wrote personally to all the postal voters in the ward and I am sure that made a difference in turning an almost guaranteed Devizes Guardian win in to a huge victory for her instead.

“People want a council that listens to them and actually tries to make a difference and putting herself out on the cold and dark evenings for a month of campaigning seems to have shown people that this is exactly what Maria intends to do”