LABOUR'S Mark Hendrick clinched victory in last Thursday's Preston by-election (November 23) despite a poor turnout.

With only one in three voters making the trip to the polling stations, the overall turnout was just over 21,000 -- 29.7 per cent -- from a possible 73,000 voters.

And Labour's share of the vote was slashed by nine per cent as both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives gained ground.

Audrey Wise's 18,000 majority after the General Election in 1997 was reduced to just over 4,000 as Hendrick's closest rivals branded his win as a "hollow victory".

In his platform speech Mark Hendrick said: "It is a nine per cent swing away from Labour, but only five per cent of that went to the Conservatives.

"On that result, there would not be a Conservative government." Tory candidate Graham O'Hare, who gained 25 per cent of the vote, said: "What we have seen is a big swing away from Labour. We had campaigned to win, but we knew from the start that it would be difficult. We knew that a near 19,000 majority would be very hard to overcome."

Lancashire Socialist Alliance candidate, Terry Cartwright, gained 5.5 per cent of the overall share of the vote.

The Deepdale councillor said: "Considering we have only been in existence for just over four weeks it has been tremendous what we have achieved.

"There is room for a socialist alliance in Preston and we will be fighting the General Election."

Liberal Democrat candidate Bill Chadwick, who has stood for Preston MP three times, picked up 3,454 votes.

He said: "I want to say to the Labour Party that this is a hollow victory. In percentage terms, the Liberal Democrats have increased their share of the vote."