LONDON: Britain's opposition Labour party retained a parliamentary seat in west London in Thursday's by-election with an eight percent swing from the ruling Conservatives, though turnout was the lowest in more than a decade.
Seema Malhotra was elected MP for Feltham and Heston with more than 12,600 votes, 54 percent of the overall vote and 6,203 votes ahead of her closest rival, Conservative party candidate Mark Bowen.
Turnout was just under 29 percent.
The by-election followed the death of Labour MP Alan Keen last month. Keen took 43.6 percent of the vote in the May 2010 general election, 12 percent more than his Conservative rival.
The by-election was held at a time when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat ruling coalition is pushing through severe austerity measures, leading to rising unemployment, to reduce Britain's large deficit.
The Lib Dems won just six percent of the votes, down eight percentage points from the 2010 election.
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