Labour hold seats in Manchester and Cardiff

Stephen Doughty this morning retained Labour's Cardiff South and Penarth constituency seat Credit: ITV Wales

Labour today held Manchester Central and Cardiff South and Penarth constituency seats in their respective by-elections.

Labour held Manchester Central with a majority of 9,936 votes, with Lucy Powell being elected as MP with 11,507 votes. She takes over from Tony Lloyd, who gave up the seat to stand in the police and crime commissioner elections.

The turnout of 18.16% was reportedly the lowest in a parliamentary by-election since the Second World War.

The post-war record until now for the lowest turnout is believed to be 19.9% in 1999 in the seat of Leeds Central.

Ms Powell said:

Commenting on the low turnout, she said: "It is not the Labour vote that has not turned out, it is the vote of the other parties."

Mancunian Ms Powell is the first woman Labour MP for any of the Manchester constituencies.

She had served as Ed Miliband's deputy chief of staff and ran his campaign to become leader of the Labour Party.