Manchester: Defeat for gay Tory candidate
Matthew Sephton, chairman of LGBTory, has been defeated as the Conservative Party candidate in the Manchester Central by-election.
Lucy Powell has held the parliamentary seat for Labour.
According to the BBC, she took 11,507 votes – 69% of those cast – and won a majority of 9,936.
Liberal Democrat Marc Ramsbottom was in second with 1,571 votes, with Conservative Matthew Sephton third on 754 votes – five more votes than were achieved by UKIP’s Chris Cassidy.
The turnout of just over 18% is believed to be the lowest in a by-election since World War II.
The by-election was triggered by Labour’s Tony Lloyd standing down as MP to run as his party’s police and crime commissioner candidate for Greater Manchester.
The result of that election is due later.
Mr Sephton is expected to lose his deposit after winning less than 5% of the vote.
Despite staying up into the early hours for the result, Mr Sephton, a primary school teacher, is understood to be back at work today.
He has been chairman of LGBTory since July 2009.
