LABOUR have won the Bolton Council Crompton by-election with a huge landslide victory.- securing 71 per cent of the vote.

Cllr Bilkis Bashir-Ismail secured just short of 2,000 votes to take the position left vacant following the death of her sister, Sufrana, last year.

Her closest challenger was UKIP candidate Paul Eccles who brought in 320 votes, edging into second place ahead of Tory Ryan Haslam on 302.

The Liberal Democrat candidate Garry Veevers secured 117 votes, while Green Laura Diggle came in fifth place with 65.

It was an emotional result for Cllr Bashir-Ismail who dedicated the win to her late sister and vowed to continue her work in the ward.

She said: "This is for Sufrana, I really wish she was here tonight but I hope she is looking down and smiling.

"Now I want to continue what she started and I am really excited to take on the challenge of being a councillor in the area that I love and that she loved."

Cllr Bashir-Ismail alluded to a row over postal votes that has dominated the build-up to this election and said she hoped the result would silence the doubters.

She added: "This is a very strong showing and I hope people now realise that I have worked very hard in the build up to the election - I would also like to thank all the Labour party members for their brilliant support."

Labour will be delighted with the result, which is 7 per cent up on the party's ward result in 2014.

UKIP will be pleased to have taken second place, although the party's vote in the ward has nearly halved since 2014.

​All the losing candidates congratulated Cllr Bashir-Ismail on her victory.