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Rishi Sunak has suffered a double blow after losing both the Kingswood and Wellingborough by-elections.
Labour overturned majorities of 11,220 and 18,540, delivering the Government's ninth and tenth by-election defeats of the current Parliament and securing its second largest swing from the Conservatives ever.
Gen Kitchen secured Wellingborough with 45.8% of the vote, while Damien Egan won Kingswood with 44.9 per cent of the vote.
The results provided Labour with a boost after a U-turn on the party's pledge to spend £28 billion on green projects and an antisemitism row that forced it to drop its candidate for another by-election in Rochdale in two weeks' time.
The twin defeat piles more pressure on the Prime Minister following the news that the UK entered a recession at the end of 2023, while Reform UK scored its best by-election results after targeting disgruntled voters on the right, securing more than 10 per cent of the vote for the first time in a by-election.Reform deputy leader Ben Habib won 13 per cent of the vote in Wellingborough, while Rupert Lowe won 10 per cent in Kingswood.
The results also mean the Government has now suffered the most by-election defeats of any government since the 1960s, surpassing the eight defeats suffered by John Major in the run-up to Tony Blair's 1997 landslide victory.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer hailed the victories, saying: "These are fantastic results in Kingswood and Wellingborough that show people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it.”
‘This shows that people are fed up’ - Gen Kitchen
Gen Kitchen, the new MP for Wellingborough, said she was “ecstatic” at the result, adding that the double by-election win for Labour shows that people are “fed up” and want change.
She said: “I hope Damien (Egan, new Labour MP for Kingswood) is as ecstatic as I am, and I’m sure the Labour leadership will be as well.
“This shows that people are fed up, they want change, they want competency, they want pragmatism and they want politicians to under-promise and over-deliver, which is what I am hoping to do.
“It shows how much hard work we put in and the real positive message we were putting out. There is a real appetite for a fresh start and change.”
Keir Starmer: ‘Rishi’s recession proves the Tories have failed’
After the results of the Wellingborough contest were confirmed Sir Keir said the “fantastic” wins show “people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it”.
He said: "By winning in these Tory strongholds, we can confidently say that Labour is back in the service of working people and we will work tirelessly to deliver for them.
"The Tories have failed. Rishi’s recession proves that. That’s why we’ve seen so many former Conservative voters switching directly to this changed Labour Party.
"Those who gave us their trust in Kingswood and Wellingborough, and those considering doing so, can be safe in the knowledge that we will spend every day working to get Britain’s future back.”
Tells you nothing about the general election - Rees-Mogg
Labour’s overturning of the Conservative majority in Kingswood could be read as a sign of how things will go at the general election this year by many, but not for North East Somerset MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Speaking after the result, he said: “Does it tell you anything about the general election? Almost certainly not.
“By-elections are an opportunity for people not to turn out, to protest, and at ensuing general elections they don’t give a consistent guide to what happens.”
He added: “From the point of view of Kingswood, I think the Conservatives can be more pleased than they might have expected. I certainly thought this result would be worse.
“Bear in mind a lot of the postal votes would have been back before Labour’s problem with antisemitism was in the public.”
Jacob Rees-Moggs spoke to the media at the Kingswood by-election
Full Wellingborough by-election result
Gen Kitchen (Labour) 13,844 (45.92 per cent, +19.46 per cent)
Helen Harrison (Conservative) 7,408 (24.57 per cent, -37.60 per cent)
Ben Habib (Reform UK) 3,919 (13.00 per cent)
Ana Savage Gunn (Liberal Democrat) 1,422 (4.72 per cent, -3.14 per cent)
Marion Turner-Hawes (ND) 1,115 (3.70 per cent)
Will Morris (Green) 1,020 (3.38 per cent, -0.12 per cent)
Kev Watts (Ind) 533 (1.77 per cent)
Alex Merola (Britain First) 477 (1.58 per cent)
Nick The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party) 217 (0.72 per cent)
Andre Pyne-Bailey (Independent) 172 (0.57 per cent)
Ankit Love Jay Mala (ND) 18 (0.06 per cent)
Lab maj 6,436 (21.35 per cent)
28.53 per cent swing C to Lab
Electorate 79,372; Turnout 30,145 (37.98 per cent, -26.30 per cent)
Labour’s Gen Kitchen wins the Wellingborough by-election
Labour has won the Wellingborough by-election, with candidate Gen Kitchen overturning the Conservatives’ 19,000 majority.
The 28-year-old beat the Tories’ Helen Harrison, the partner of disgraced former MP Peter Bone, whose resignation sparked the contest.
Ms Kitchen will be the first Labour MP for Wellingborough since Mr Bone turned the seat blue in 2005. She will also enter the House of Commons as one of its youngest MPs.
Ms Kitchen won with 13,844 votes, almost twice as many as Ms Harrison, who secured 7,408 votes.
What triggered the by-elections?
Two by-elections were voted on by constituents in the Gloucestershire seat of Kingswood and the Northamptonshire seat of Wellingborough on Thursday in a key day in UK politics.
Kingswood’s vote was triggered by Chris Skidmore’s resignation as an MP in protest at Government legislation to boost North Sea oil and gas drilling.
He won the Gloucestershire constituency for the Tories at the past four general elections, before which Labour held it at every general election since 1992.
The by-election in Wellingborough comes after former Tory MP Peter Bone received a six-week suspension from the Commons when an inquiry found he had subjected a staff member to bullying and sexual misconduct.
He won the Northamptonshire constituency at every general election from 2005 to 2019, with Labour coming second in four of the five contests and Ukip in 2015. His majority in 2019 was 36%.
Former Tory MP Peter Bone was ousted by voters through a recall petition (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
We spoke to new Kingswood MP Damien Egan
Damien Egan was with family in Yate, about a 30-minute drive from the count in Thornbury, after the polls closed at 10pm, before receiving a call that the result was going to be declared earlier than first expected.
The 42-year-old, who lives in Staple Hill, spoke to us after his win.
After we asked how he was feeling, and why he’d won, he said: “Incredibly exciting, it really hasn’t sunk in at all yet. I think the reason [we won] was because we talked to people about the issues that they cared about, cost-of-living crisis, talking about policing and feeling safer on the streets, and the NHS.”
Asked if he was worried over the impact of the antisemitism row in Rochdale on the vote, he said: “When you are a candidate, you worry about everything. I was worried about the rain more to be honest, because as I thought with such heavy rain people wouldn’t come out to vote, but I’ll be honest, the issues you are referring to didn’t come up.”
‘We can’t be unhappy with that’ - Reform UK
Reform’s 10 per cent share of the vote in Kingswood represents its best performance in a by-election so far this parliament, and is up from the 5 per cent and 4 per cent the party achieved in the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections respectively in October 2023.
Candidate Rupert Lowe was overhead telling his aides: “We can’t be unhappy with that.”
Labour’s Kingswood swing would cost the Tories 169 seats nationally
The 16.4 per cent swing from the Tories to Labour would cost Rishi Sunak 169 seats at a general election, putting Sir Keir Starmer on course for an outright majority.
It is the sixth by-election win since Sir Keir took the reins from Jeremy Corbyn.
And it means the Tories have had nine by-election losses in this parliament, more than in the run up to Sir Tony Blair’s 1997 Labour landslide.
‘Our country is at a crossroads’ - Damien Egan
Damien Egan, in his winning speech after winning the Kingswood by-election, said:“In Kingswood, as across the country, 14 years of Conservative government have sucked the hope out of our country with a feeling that no matter how hard you work, you just can’t move forward.
“And with Rishi’s recession we’re left again paying more and getting less. It doesn’t have to be this way, you know it, I know it, we all know it.
“When the Prime Minister finally finds the courage to give the people a say, we’re going to need each and every one of you again to come out and vote and make sure your voices are heard.
“Our country is at a crossroads. Under the Conservatives we can choose more managed decline, more chaos, more division or we can choose a changed Labour Party.”
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2024-02-16 06:16:56Z
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