With a majority of 4,601, Carr won the by-election and declared in his victory speech that "If ever there was any doubt of the issue that was going to settle this by-election there is no doubt now. When the poll tax is finally put to rest in the grave, its epitaph will read 'Here lies the poll tax, killed in Ribble Valley'." When he took his seat on 12 March, Labour MP Dennis Skinner heckled "Don't take your coat off, you'll not be stopping!". It was reported at the end of April that the local Liberal Democrats had asked to rent a venue for Carr to hold his constituency surgeries for no more than six months, rather than the three years offered.