Lib Dems win Uppingham by-election as Rutland's Tories implode

Forget the Red Wall and the Blue Wall: Rutland is where the action is tonight.

Stephen Lambert has won the Rutland County Council by-election in the Uppingham ward for the Liberal Democrats.

The result:

Lib Dems - 661
Independent - 327
Conservative - 206
Reform - 36

The by-election was caused by the resignation of a Green councillor.

Meanwhile Rutland's Conservative group has continued to fall apart, with three more of its remaining members leaving.

They included the council's leader Oliver Hemsley, who has issued a rather rambling statement saying he intends to stay in this post as an unaligned Independent. As far as one can tell, he is frustrated by the level of funding Rutland receives from central government.

At Rutland's 2019 all-out council elections, the Conservatives won 16 of the 27 seats. Today, thanks to by-election defeats and defections, they are down to 6.