Newark by-election: Liberal Democrat candidate David Watts says "we knew we wouldn't win"

It was a terrible night for Liberal Democrat candidate Mr David Watts, who finished sixth overall with 1,004 votes and lost his deposit.

His party was beaten by both the Green Party and independent candidate Mr Paul Baggaley.

Mr Watts said: "I had a small team working for me and I'm really proud to represent the party. We knew we wouldn't win and it was always going to be a challenge to save the deposit."

He said if Deputy Prime Minister Mr Nick Clegg had visited the constituency it would have taken too much time and effort from Mr Watt's election team to organise, which would have impacted on his own campaign.