The Conservative Party candidate has beaten his Liberal Democrat opponent by just one vote to become the new Cornwall Councillor for Mabe, Perranarworthal and St Gluvias.

Retired local businessman Reginald George Peter Williams won 406 votes to claim first place in the polls, with John Ault, an associate lecturer at Penryn Campus, managing 405.

There were two recounts held for the by-election last week, which was organised due to the resignation of UKIP councillor Michael Keogh after 12 months in the post.

Mr Williams said: “It feels fantastic to beat Mr Ault. “I think only a local man can do this job. You need to know the ins-and outs of Cornwall and to know all the people in the villages.”

He added: “The electorate spoke. It was closer than I thought it might be but I knew he would give me a run for his money. “I certainly will try hard to live up to the job.”

Mr Ault said: “It doesn’t get much closer than that. “You think of all the things that you could have done to get a few more people to the polls, but at the end of the day that’s what they decided, and I wish my opponent all the best for the job.”

The voter turnout was 28.6 per cent, and UKIP candidate Peter Tisdale came third with 271 votes, followed by Labour’s Linda Hitchcox with 107, and Karen Sumser Lupson of Mebyon Kernow with 58.