SOUTHEND'S Tories are adamant voters were not turned away from the party amid swirling Number 10 lockdown party scandals despite a historically low turnout.

Anna Firth secured victory with 86.1 per cent of the vote, in a by-election contested by fringe parties and independents.

The turnout of 24 per cent was just below that of the Batley and Spen contest in 2016, which was held in similar circumstances after Labour MP Jo Cox was killed, and the third-lowest turnout in modern British political history.

There 1,084 spoiled ballot papers, twice as many as there were votes for the second-placed candidate Jason Pilley, of the Psychedelic Movement, indicating dissatisfaction with the party following a tumultuous month.

Echo:

A spoilt ballot at the count

“I don’t think the turnout shows there is dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party at all," newly elected MP Anna Firth said.

“What was really interesting, is that the overall majority of people were raising local issues with me on the doorstep. People overwhelmingly cared more about crime, anti-social behaviour, and bin collections.

“Yes, there were one or two people who raised the issues in Westminster, but I was getting as many people saying to me they wanted to back the Prime Minister because he got Brexit done, as I was getting people saying they were dissatisfied.”

"The people I spoke to feel he is being victimised and there is a vendetta to bring Boris down."

Echo:

Proud moment - Anna Firth

James Duddridge, Tory MP for Southend East and Rochford, agreed with Ms Firth's belief voters were not put off by long-list of boozy lockdown breaking parties at Number 10.

He said: “I think the stats show it did not impact the turn out.

“There were some people mentioning it but these were people who were never going to vote for us.

“Far more people wanted to speak about Sir David and Anna Firth and the issues in their communities.

“One man sticks to mind after he told me he wanted to raise important issues and it was parking and bins.

“He didn’t seem to want to focus on Boris and the national politics.

“Of course, for those who did mention it I reminded them about the work he’s done on Brexit and Covid too.”

“It was clear as the campaign came to an end that she was going to be a great MP.”

Last Thursday, four senior aides to Boris Johnson resigned from Downing Street within hours of each other amid growing pressure on the prime minister.

One of them was Mr Johnson’s longstanding adviser Munira Mirza, director of the Number 10 policy unit, who said the PM had “let himself down” with his “scurrilous” comment about Jimmy Savile to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Councillor Tony Cox, leader of the Southend Conservative group, however felt anger at the party's top brass sapped voters’ enthusiasm, but not to the degree he had feared it might.

He said: “I think the turn out may have been affected by national politics and I think it’s the lowest since war time.

“But it was not as big an issue as I had expected during the campaign.

“It wasn’t mentioned much on the doorsteps at all, but it was a very low turnout at the polls.”