Heidi Allen attended the Queen Edith's by-election hustings last night – and was interviewed afterwards for the Puffles’ Vimeo channel.

Alongside her was her Lib-Dem rival for the Parliamentary vote next May – one intriguing question was how they became involved in politics.

The event, organised by Homerton College Union of Students, was, it seems, the first time in many years candidates in a council election had been asked to stand up and answer questions before polling day.

Afterwards, Heidi tweeted to say 'Tough questions from Homerton College students, really testing the candidates' (including Andy Bower, for the Conservative) knowledge of what's important to students.  There's a report on the Queen Edith's Online website.

UPDATE – election result

Viki Sanders (Liberal Democrats): 933 votes (36%)
Rahima Ahammed (Labour): 790 votes (31%)
Andy Bower (Conservatives): 614 votes (24%)
Joel Chalfen (Green): 222 votes (9%).

Disappointing for us, and especially Andy, but (to quote from Queen Edith's Online) 'After the prize of winning itself, the achievement of the by-election must go to the Conservatives, who – despite having nothing like the resources of the two parties ahead of them – increased their share of the vote from 16% to 24%'

Queen Edith's is a 'hybrid' seat – it's part of Cambridge City for local administration, but is in the South Cambridgeshire Parliamentary constituency.

▲