LABOUR have won back Brighton Kemptown in spectacular fashion, ousting defending MP Simon Kirby with a crushing victory.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle won a majority of almost 10,000 votes, giving Jeremy Corbyn another reason to smile on a night of celebration for Labour.

It marks a meteoric rise for Mr Russell-Moyle who stood in Lewes two years ago and was only voted onto Brighton and Hove City Council in August last year.

Mr Kirby was defending a majority of just 690, the ninth smallest Conservative majority in the country, and a majority which had been almost halved after his first full term.

There was no candidate for the Greens, who won 3,187 votes at the last election, as the party formed a progressive alliance pact aimed at ousting the incumbent Tory.

Ukip, who won nearly ten percent of the vote share in 2015 and who had increased their vote every year they have stood since 2001, also choose not to stand a candidate in an effort to support Mr Kirby despite him being a Remain supporter prior to the referendum.

Lib Dem Emily Tester came third with 1,457 votes, an improvement of just over 100 votes on the party’s performance in 2015 but the party still lost their deposit.

Doktor Haze, ringmaster of the touring Circus of Horrors which has just completed performances in Preston Park in Brighton last weekend, came fourth with 212 votes. In his winning speech, Mr Russell-Moyle said it was a victory for “clear socialist policies” and that Conservatives, Greens and UKIP supporters had all decided it was time for a change and time for “Labour in Kemptown.”

A visibly disappointed Mr Kirby stormed out of the venue immediately after the result and turned down requests for an interview.