“A political earthquake”: Labour shatter by-election records in Tory wipeout
Labour have secured a historic double by-election victory in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth with swings of more than 20 percentage points in both seats.
Results for the two by-elections held in England yesterday saw a major blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives as two significant Tory majorities were overturned.
Sir Keir Starmer claimed Labour was “redrawing the political map” by taking seats which had been comfortably Conservative ahead of the general election expected next year.
Labour’s Alistair Strathern won 13,872 votes compared to Tory Festus Akinbusoye’s 12,680 votes, a majority of 1,192 votes, in what was seen as a three-way race with the Lib Dems.
The swing of 20.5 per cent meant Strathern overturned former MP Nadine Dorries’ majority of 24,664 – winning the seat for the first time in its 105-year history.
While in Tamworth, Labour’s candidate, Sarah Edwards, was elected with 11,719 votes – and a 1.316 majority – compared to Tory Andrew Cooper’s 10,403.
The Conservative to Labour swing in the seat formerly held by Chris Pincher was 23.9 per cent – the second biggest flip since 1945.
In his victory speech, Strathern said the results showed “nowhere is off-limits” for Labour.
“Tonight residents across Mid Bedfordshire have made history,” he added. After decades of being taken for granted, feeling left behind, being under-represented, they made a decision it was time for a change.”
And Edwards urged Sunak to “get in your government car, drive to Buckingham Palace, do the decent thing and call a general election.”
She added: “I know a lot of you have voted Labour for the first time, and I will not let you down…Change is the question at the next general election, and the answer is Labour.”
Turnout in Staffordshire was at 35.9 per cent while the commuter belt constituency was 44 per cent.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer commented: “These are phenomenal results that show Labour is back in the service of working people and redrawing the political map.
“Winning in these Tory strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it.”
And Labour’s Peter Kyle called the results a “political earthquake.”
Tory former cabinet minister Sir Robert Buckland said Sunak’s party now needed to focus on the issues that mattered most to voters rather than infighting about who could succeed the party leader.
He told the BBC: “I think that as Conservatives, we now need to make it very clear what the next five years is going to look like, and that’s what I’m looking for from the Prime Minister and our leaders.”
Both parties had sought to manage expectations in the run up to the contests, with Labour insisting securing a double victory was a “moonshot”.
While a leaked CCHQ memo this week indicated the Tories were expected to lose both, in what was widely seen as an attempt to damp down fevered speculation of two victories.