Summary

  • UKIP's Mark Reckless won Rochester and Strood by-election, beating the Conservative Party by 2,920 votes

  • Breakdown: UKIP - 16,867; Conservatives - 13,947; Labour - 6,713; Greens - 1,692; Lib Dems - 349

  • Voters in Rochester and Strood voted on Thursday to choose a new Member of Parliament

  • The vote came less than six months before the next general election

  • Reckless visited Westminster on Friday morning and was sworn in as Rochester and Strood's MP

Live Reporting

Mario Cacciottolo, Lauren Turner, Esther Webber and Megan Bramall

  1. UKIP's Mark Reckless wins Rochester and Strood by-election.

  2. Medway Council tweets: We are expecting the result of the Rochester and Strood By-election soon

  3. Will immigration decide the Rochester and Strood result? Chris Mason asks local voters.

  4. Here's that council by-election result in full: UKIP 2,850, Con 1,965, Lab 716, Green 314, Lib Dem 60.

    May 2011: Three seats - Con 2,307, 2,257, 2,125, Lab 975, 898, 879, English Democrats 535, 476, Green 351, Lib Dem 298, 282.

  5. Nick Robinson
    Political editor

    earlier said the tweet had "given the Tory press an alternative narrative" to UKIP's expected victory in the by-election: "It is the most extraordinary self-inflicted wound I have seen an opposition party inflict on themselves in many, many years."

  7. Emily Ashton, from the Sun, tells Andrew Neil she has been talking to the man whose house, flags and van were photographed and tweeted by Labour's Emily Thornberry - who then resigned from the party's front bench after being accused of "sneering".

    "He was just a bit cross to be put in the middle of a story that he didn't want to be in," she says.

    The flags were from the World Cup in the summer, and he uses the van for work, she adds.

  8. Chris Irvine

    Chris Irvine, who worked in Mr Reckless's constituency office, told the BBC: "I grew quite unhappy with the way the Conservative Party was going."

  9. Have your say

    Martin Heneghan in Sheffield tweets: I give up. Too tired and we've known the #RochesterandStrood result all night. The next election night drama is #GE2015 night all #bbctw

  10. Christopher Irvine, who followed Mark Reckless in switching from the Conservatives to UKIP, wins in the Peninsula Ward on the council.

  11. UKIP win a by-election on Medway Council.

  13. Kelly Tolhurst

    Here's Kelly Tolhurst at the count.

  14. Mr Farage is closely followed by Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst, who refuses to comment on questions that she has been defeated.

  15. Get involved

    Nick Millward tweets: It's a by-election Nigel - get over it. Whether you can hang onto it next May is another matter. #RochesterandStrood

  16. Farage on Reckless: "He's shown some real guts, done the sort of thing that in politics people don't do anymore - shown principle, honour, put his neck on the line, trusted the people of the constituency and I hope that's going to be rewarded."

  17. Nigel Farage arrives at the count

    Nigel Farage arrives at the count: "I'm hoping we're going to win. I'm just here as a supporting cast for Mark Reckless."

  18. Our correspondent Chris Mason informs us that the Official Monster Raving Loony Party have been handing out bananas while they wait.

  19. UKIP have won one and finished second in eight of the 21 by-elections held since the 2010 general election. What is at stake for the parties?

  20. Rochester count

    Here's the scene at the count which is taking place not in Rochester but at a Medway Council sports centre in nearby Gillingham. The BBC's Chris Mason, who is there, says the result still may not be announced for a couple of hours yet.