ALL councillors who were forced to stand for re-election after a town council's procedure errors have been voted back into office.

Four Workington Town Council members who originally won a seat in a by-election back in May had to face a second contest on Thursday.

Errors in procedure after the first vote made their position on the town council unsound and they were forced to stand for re-election, competing against would-be councillors for the second time.

On December 16 for the second time, Jacqueline Kirkbride was elected as Conservative councillor for Stainburn ward, Ellie Wood won the Salterbeck seat for Labour and in St John's ward, two seats were contested with victories for Labour's Anthony McGuckin and Independent councillor Patricia Poole.

It emerged in October that the members elected in May had signed their Declarations of Acceptance of Office after an emergency full council meeting was held.

Cumbria Association of Local Councils advised that the councillors could continue in their role, but the National Association of Local Councils later ruled that their positions were unsound.

The second victory brought "peace of mind" for Cllr Wood. She said: "I'm relieved all this is over because it's been going on since May."

She said that she was "delighted" her constituents have "reaffirmed" their belief in her so that she can continue representing them.

"You go into it because you want to help the people in your area and then to find due to other people I wasn't actually in the position I thought I was in was quite devastating. I was quite upset but it's all been put right.

"I'm glad we're all back where we were. We've got the peace of mind now. My Declaration of Acceptance has been signed."

Cllr Kirkbride also felt that justice had been done: "I wanted to know that my seat was legal and that I was fairly voted in and I wasn't in a precarious position.

"I wanted to know I'd won it fair and square."

Cllr McGuckin said: "I would've rather not had another election which would have probably cost the best part of £16,000 which could have been spent another way."

But he said: "It's about people in Workington when they go out and vote, that their vote matters. This has proved that when you're in Government, local or national, you have to make sure you're holding your head above the water and that you're abiding by laws, regulations and policies."

He called the situation "a complete fiasco."

Leader of the Allerdale Independent Group Paul Scott said that the situation did not have to result in a by-election.

"The by-election was triggered by the Conservative Party and Labour. A simple clerical error was pushed beyond control.

"The mayor and myself put a statement out to press stating that we wouldn't have wanted an election to be made. It made sense just to co-opt them back on."

Cllr Scott said that a top solicitor advised the Independents that this would have been legally sound and: "as with every law it's about being reasonable."

"While the law was somewhat bent by those elected councillors not signing their acceptance there was no malice in it and therefore it's reasonable to believe we should have carried on with those councillors."