Labour man holds seat in byelection

The son of Irish immigrants has held a Manchester House of Commons seat for Labour, in a byelection battle which saw the Conservatives once more come third behind the UK Independence Party.

Labour's Mike Kane, whose parents emigrated from Roscommon and Leitrim to Manchester in the 1950s, won with 13,261 votes, beating Ukip's John Bickley, who received 4,301 votes in a byelection caused by the death of former Northern Ireland Office minister Paul Goggins.

The Conservative candidate, Rev Daniel Critchlow (26), a Church of England vicar, came third on 3,479 votes. The Liberal Democrats lost their deposit, receiving just 1,176 votes.

It is the sixth time in the last couple of years that Ukip has taken second place in byelections.