Labour fended off a strong challenge from Reform UK to retain a council seat in a crucial by-election which had threatened to tip the balance of power against it.

Voters turned out in high numbers in Ellesmere Port's Strawberry ward on Thursday to choose a replacement for their previous Labour councillor Gareth Gould, who had quit in August for health reasons.

The vote was a key test for Labour's ruling administration due to its precarious position of having exactly half of all councillors in Cheshire West and Chester, which meant a loss could have seen its agenda blocked in the council chamber.

The by-election saw a six-way contest with Labour's Kris Fisher emerging victorious with 602 votes. He was followed by Reform UK's Jason Moorcroft with 539 votes.

Finishing third was independent candidate Ray McHale with 231 votes, followed by Nicholas Hebson for the Conservatives with 132, Lizzie Jewkes for the Liberal Democrats with 121, and Paul Bowers for the Greens on 58. 

Turnout was high on 41.6 per cent, compared to the usual average by-election numbers which float between 15 and 20 per cent. 

Mr Fisher said: "I'm absolutely delighted. What's clear is that Reform have not managed to sway people towards their politics and that community politics has won out. I'm local and I'll concentrate on doing the best for our community."

Speaking after the result was announced at Ellesmere Port Library, Mr Moorcroft said: "I'm obviously disappointed – we could have won it. It was a good turnout, a good show of democracy and we did our very best. We've had good feedback on the doorstep. People want change."

Conservative councillor Simon Eardley, who was election agent for Nicholas Hebson, said: "By-elections with six candidates can throw up strange results. It could go either way in many respects but we were perfectly content with our performance."

It was a crucial test for the ruling minority Labour administration given the current political makeup of the council.

Before Mr Gould stepped down Labour had 35 councillors out of 70, with all other opposition councillors also totalling 35. It meant that – at worst – it could have faced deadlock had all opposition councillors decided to join forces against it on crucial votes. 

But if an opposition candidate had won the by-election it would have tipped the balance against Labour and potentially seen it outvoted completely.

But the win returns the situation to parity and is likely to leave the council's Labour leadership breathing a sigh of relief, albeit concerned too about the significant inroads Reform UK made into its vote share after what had been an easy win for Labour last time out in the 2023 local elections, where it picked up nearly three times the number votes of its then closest rival the Conservatives. 

The political make-up of Cheshire West and Chester is now once again:

Labour (35)

Conservative (21)

Green (two)

Grouped independent (two)

Reform UK (three)

Liberal Democrat (one)

Unaligned independent (six)

Labour remain the largest group on the council, followed by the Conservatives as second and Reform UK as third largest.