A Congleton Town and borough councillor has seen off five other candidates, finishing in the Top 9 of the North Shropshire by-election.

Ascot Close resident Suzie Akers Smith received 0.2% of the votes.

Helen Morgan of the Liberal Democrats won the by-election, contested by the Congleton West Independent councillor.

But despite not winning, Suzie will have partially helped to achieve one of her goals, by taking away votes from Conservative voters, who chose to field a candidate with no connection of the local area.

Last month, she told Congleton Nub News: "I was looking at the candidates and saw that the Tories had brought in a barrister from Birmingham. And I thought what does he know about the Shires?"

"If they think a guy from Birmingham can get in, I'll just throw my keys into the hat and see what happens."

The Conservative candidate Neil Shastri-Hurst finished 2nd with 12,032 votes.

Over 5000 less than the Liberal Democrats' 17,957 votes.

Labour's Ben Wood finished third with 3,686 votes, Duncan Kerr came fourth for the Green Party with 1,738.

Reform UK's Kirsty Walmsley finished four places above the Congleton councillor in fifth, with 1,427 votes.

378 ticked the box for UKIP candidate Andrea Allen, and 375 filled in for Martin Daubney of Reclaim UK.

Monster Raving Loony Party MP candidate Alan "Howling Laud" Hope got 118 votes.

Suzie Akers Smith - who will continue as a Congleton Town and Cheshire East councillor - got 95 votes.

She beat James Elliot of Heritage (79), Rejoin EU's Boris Been Bunged (58), Freedom Alliance's Earl Jesse (57), Party Party Russell Dean (19).

In last place came Yolande Kenward with three votes.

Suzie Akers Smith thanks the people of North Shropshire for their support.

She is the Cycling and Walking Champion and Vice-Chair of the Southern Planning Committee.

She was elected as a councillor for Cheshire East in 2019. You can contact her here.

The Liberal Democrat winner Helen Morgan will now sit in Parliament in the new year.

Congleton's MP is Fiona Bruce MP.

See also: Congleton MP Fiona Bruce votes for COVID passes and more despite record Conservative backlash

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You can read our interview with Suzie last month on her campaign here.

Don't miss out on Congleton's latest and greatest news. Have you signed up to the weekly Congleton Nub News newsletter?

3560 of you lovely people have signed up already.

Simply enter your email address into the shaded box below.

Free from pop-up ads, or unwanted surveys, Congleton Nub News is a quality online newspaper which produces 15-25 stories a week for our town.

You can also find us on Facebook or Twitter.