The Liberal Democrats won a surprise victory in the Sheffield City Council by-election for the Woodhouse ward in the early hours of last Friday morning.

The party’s candidate, student Willis Marshall, 19, won the election by only ten votes. He received 1,018 votes, whereas the runner-up, Reform UK, received 1,008.

The close margin of victory meant that a recount was held after ballots were counted the first time around. The final vote tallies from the recount were the same as the first counting.

Willis Marshall spoke to Sheffield Rise immediately following his win: “I’m still coming to terms to it, but I’m really, really proud, I had an amazing team around me, in terms of support around me, I’m really, really honoured to have won.”

The Labour party candidate, Sajid Ghafur’s, third place came as a shock. It had been widely expected that Labour would win the seat. It had been thought that any competition they faced would be from Reform UK, not the Liberal Democrats.

But the Liberal Democrats are well known for excelling at on the ground politics. By-elections, such as this one, are where they overperform more than anywhere else.

A taxi driver by trade, Sajid Ghafur was also the Labour candidate in the Darnall ward in May’s local election. He had been expected to win that seat as well, but lost to an independent candidate.

When the result was announced, Reform UK candidate, Andrew Hizzard, abruptly left the building. The returning officer was left waiting for him to return for a number of minutes, before deciding to proceed with the official announcement of the results without him.

The candidates for the Green Party, the SDP and the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition were also not standing beside the returning officer when the result was announced. Only winner Willis Marshall, Sajid Ghafur, and Conservative candidate Sam Hemsley were present.

Sam Hemsley, 21, is also a student. Like Willis Marshall, he studies politics at the University of Sheffield. He received 153 votes and was standing for election for the first time last week. He said: “It’s been an enjoyable experience, which is weird to say when you don’t win, but, for me, most of this experience has been being part of the democratic process.

“Being able to give voters the opportunity to vote for the Conservative Party and also to give them the opportunity to register their dissatisfaction and vote for others – in that sense, if you believe in democracy, you can’t be annoyed at the result, whatever it is.”

Willis Marshall spoke further to Sheffield Rise: “I’m from that area of Sheffield, I know how it feels having councillors that don’t listen – so that’s something I really want to work on.

“Listening to people and getting their issues dealt with – something I don’t think has been done before. I’m really happy as you can imagine, and really proud of both myself and the team I’ve had around me.”