Penryn Town Council elected another Labour councillor last night when Tamsyn Widdon won the Penryn West by-election with 237 votes.

She joins fellow Labour councillors Jo Garrett, Dan Edwards, Chris Mullins and Kurt Ruby on the council.

Jennifer Forbes parliamentary candidate for Truro and Falmouth said: “I am absolutely delighted, Tamsyn is already doing great work in the community. She embodies so much of what the resurgent Labour Party in Cornwall is all about.

"We will make 2019 the year our campaigning and activism reaches out and achieves for people in Cornwall now. For too long the real needs and issues of the people of Cornwall have been ignored by our elected politicians. We are going to change that.”

Tamsyn is a 41 year-old mother of two young children who attend local schools.

She is the owner of a social enterprise in Penryn and the wife of an NHS Doctor at Treliske.

She said: "I love the diversity, history and potential of Penryn. Having worked in community development and teaching before moving here, I joined the local primary school as a governor in order to understand the community better and find out what I could do to help make lives better."

Tamsyn also volunteered with Hands up Penryn to learn more about the issues affecting residents.

She started her social enterprise café, The Saracens Plate at Penryn Rugby Club last year, to try and provide services that are lacking in that part of town and has had an insight into issues around jobs, housing, students, infrastructure and wellbeing through the customers and groups that she works with.

"I believe that solutions to problems in our community can be found through better engagement between local residents, local businesses and local government and I am happy to put myself forward to facilitate this," she added.