Reform's first Peterborough councillor says voters have 'sent a message'

Andrew O’Neil won the by-election on Thursday, securing 565 votes – 36 more than second place Ed Murphy, representing the Green Party.

The by-election was needed following the sad death of former Labour councillor Nick Thulbourn.

For a long time on Thursday night the count, taking place at Sand Martin House, looked close – with a two horse race quickly becoming apparent.

But at 11:50am, Returning Officer Adrian Chapman called the candidates to the stage, to reveal Reform had won the seat.

Speaking to The Peterborough Telegraph in the moments following the win, cllr O’Neil said he had been listening to residents during his campaign and ‘would be taking the issues raised to council.’

He said: “We’ve listened to the residents, we’ve taken on board the issues, we are going to be taking those to council to remedy those issues.

"I also want to look at focusing on vanity projects and waste within the council, and see if we can get some cost savings in there. Obviously the council has quite a large debt at the moment, so that does need managing at the moment.

"Obviously I’m just one Reform councillor out of 60 councillors, going forward I’d like to see more Reform UK councillors elected to grow the team so we can have a greater impact for the community of Peterborough.”

Cllr O’Neil also paid tribute to the team that helped him get elected.

He said: “It’s a fantastic team. In particular I’d like to thank Sue Garford, the chair of North West Cambs Reform branch, without her efforts over the last six weeks or so, this result would not have been possible. But it is a fantastic team and I’d like to thank everybody in the team, including Ryan Coogan.”

Last election in Fletton & Woodston

The last council election in the ward took place in May 2024, when Daisy Blakemore -Creedon – who was then representing Labour – was elected with 940 votes. The Conservative Party candidate – Andrew Coles – finished second with 658 votes, with The Green Party (Adam Warr) finishing third with 222 votes.

The turnout at the 2024 election was similar to the 2025 by-election. In 2024 the turnout was 25.33 per cent (1,971 votes) while in the 2026 by-election, the turn out was 25.22 per cent (1,926 votes).

Cllr Blakemore-Creedon has since left Labour, and sits as an independent councillor.

Council make up

The result means the council make up is now:

Labour: 13 councillors

Independent 11 councillors

Conservative: 10 councillors

Peterborough First: 10 councillors

Liberal Democrat: 8 councillors

Green Party: 5 councillors

Reform 1: councillor

Not specified: 1 councillor

One further by-election is planned for the spring – again in the Fletton and Woodston ward, following the death of Alan Dowson.

Full result

The full result from the 2026 by-election was:

Ed Murphy – Green Party – 529 votes

Andrew O’Neil – Reform UK – 565 votes

Neil Walton – Liberal Democrats – 84 votes

Andrew Willey – Conservative – 419 votes

Harvey Woodhouse – Labour – 323 votes

Rejected ballot papers – 6