THE Liberal Democrats have won back the seat of former leader Paddy Ashdown in a night of triumph for the party across Somerset.

The Yeovil constituency was once a Lib Dem stronghold, with the late Mr Ashdown representing it between 1983 and 2001 before passing the baton to David Laws.

Conservative Marcus Fysh won the seat in 2015, as his party swept the Lib Dems aside across the south west, and had increased his majority in both 2017 and 2019.

But his luck ran out in the early hours of Friday morning (July 5) as Lib Dem challenger Adam Dance was swept to victory by more than 12,000 votes.

The campaign saw Messrs. Dance and Fysh lock horns at a number of public hustings – including one event in Ilminster over the weekend, where Mr Fysh described his opponent as “an imbecile” while taking questions from local farmers.

Turnout was considerably down on the 2019 contest, with 61.39 per cent of voters coming out to vote either in person or by post – a drop of more than ten per cent.

The Reform UK candidate, Laura Bailhache, did not attend the count, with her agent stating she had been unable to secure transport from her home in Taunton.

During his victory speech, Mr Dance – who also represents South Petherton and Islemoor on Somerset Council – thanked his “loving family”, many of whom had turned out to support him on the night.

He said: “Thank you to the people of Yeovil for putting your trust in me – to be your MP is a real privilege.

“I will be an MP who works for the area, like Paddy Ashdown and David Laws.

“I will go back to local advice centres, which will be held across the whole of the constituency, not just here in Yeovil.

“I will fight for local jobs, for a cleaner environment here, and for better local health services which we all need.

“I will always be an MP you can be proud of, and I will always be on your side because I was born and brought up here.

“I will be an agent for change in Westminster. We have to improve education and health, create a fairer society and meet head on the challenges of climate change.

“Thank you all so much for the trust you have placed in me – I won’t forget it, and I promise I won’t let you down.”

The full results from the Yeovil constituency are as follows:

Speaking after the declaration, Mr Fysh said he would continue to fight for the local area – though he did not say whether he would try to run against Mr Dance at the next election.

He said: “I would like to thank the great people of the Yeovil constituency – they’ve been fantastic throughout, we’ve done great things together and I believe in their future.

“I am concerned for the next few years and what that might bring them, and so I am going to try and help in any way I can in a personal capacity.

“When the tide goes out, it’s very hard to fight against that. Reform took our votes, particularly in Brexit-voting seats like ours, and turnout was also down.

“Frankly I’m disgusted with the way that the Conservative administration has behaved in the last 18 months – I think they’ve been poor.

“At the end of the day, we need a centre-right party that is able to speak across the centre ground and articulate conservative values.”