2014 Rochester and Strood by-election

2014 Rochester and Strood by-election

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Rochester and Strood constituency
Turnout	50.6%
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Mark Reckless Kelly Tolhurst Naushabah Khan Party UKIP Conservative Labour Popular vote 16,867 13,947 6,713 Percentage 42.1% 34.8% 16.8% Swing New party 14.4% 11.7%
MP before election Mark Reckless Conservative Subsequent MP Mark Reckless UKIP

A by-election was held on 20 November 2014 for the UK parliamentary constituency of Rochester and Strood in Kent, England.^[1] The sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Reckless called it on joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP), from the Conservatives. He resigned his seat.^[2]

Reckless retained the seat, and polled 42.1% of the vote as the UKIP candidate. The Conservative Party came second with 34.8%, and Labour third with 16.8%. The other ten candidates lost their deposits, including the Liberal Democrats whose 0.87% vote share was a record low for them, and the lowest ever for a party in government.^[3]

This was the last by-election of the 2010–2015 Parliament.