A BY-ELECTION has been held to fill a vacancy left by the recently elected Tees Valley Mayor.

Conservative candidate Tony Hampton has been elected to replace Ben Houchen as a Stockton Borough Councillor for the Yarm ward.

Mr Hampton achieved 1,179 votes, compared with Independent Andrew Sherris who received 677 votes.

Labour’s Kevin Nicholas achieved 394 votes, whilst Liberal Democrat candidate Graham Robinson achieved 73 votes.

Last month, Mr Houchen claimed he had caused a “political earthquake” after becoming the first ever mayor of the Tees Valley by more than 2,000 votes.

Matthew Vickers, Hartburn councillor who has taken over as Conservative leader from Mr Houchen on Stockton Council, said: “I would like to thank Ben for his leadership of the group and wish him the best of luck in his new role.

“I’ll be doing everything I can to ensure the council listens to local people and delivers good quality, value for money, local services.”