Labour has won the Blackpool South by-election in yet another blow for Rishi Sunak’s leadership.
The party’s candidate Chris Webb defeated the Conservative candidate David Jones by 10,825 votes to 3,218 — a 26 per cent swing in the “Red Wall” constituency.
Chris Webb, a local and the firm favourite, received 10,825 votes after Thursday’s contest — a 58.9% vote share. The Conservatives trailed far behind with just 3,218.
Reform UK finished a close third on 3,101 votes, while the Liberal Democrats got 387 votes and the Green Party won 368.
As local election results were counted across the country, Keir Starmer declared the “seismic” Blackpool South result “the most important result today”.
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Speaking from the constituency later on Friday morning, the Labour leader said: “It is incredible to have won by such a swing, a 26% swing. That’s the fifth swing of over 20% to the Labour party in by-elections in recent months and years. It is a fantastic result, a really first class result.
“And here in Blackpool, a message has been sent directly to the prime minister, because this was a parliamentary vote, to say we’re fed up with your decline, your chaos of your division and we want change. We want to go forward with Labour”.
The by-election took place in Blackpool South alongside local elections across England and Wales. There remain hundreds of seats still to be declared, along with 10 mayoralties and 37 police and crime commissioners, in the coming hours and days.
Blackpool South is now the seventh seat the Conservative Party has lost to the Labour Party in this parliament.
John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, told the BBC the result in Blackpool South is further indication of Labour being on track for a significant majority at the general election.
“This is now the fifth parliamentary by election in which we’ve seen swings of over 20% from Conservative to Labour”, he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
He added: “The last time we had swings with that size of a degree of regularity was the 1992-1997 parliament. Tony Blair didn’t get as many as that, and we know what happened in 1997.”
The by-election was called after the former Conservative MP Scott Benton was caught in a lobbying sting by The Times newspaper.
Benton was ultimately suspended from the House of Commons for 35 days, meaning he was subject to a recall petition in his constituency. However, instead of facing removal from his seat, he resigned from parliament, triggering a vote for a new MP.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter
here.
The post Labour wins Blackpool South by-election as Keir Starmer hails ‘seismic’ result appeared first on Politics.co.uk.
The party’s candidate Chris Webb defeated the Conservative candidate David Jones by 10,825 votes to 3,218 — a 26 per cent swing in the “Red Wall” constituency.
Chris Webb, a local and the firm favourite, received 10,825 votes after Thursday’s contest — a 58.9% vote share. The Conservatives trailed far behind with just 3,218.
Reform UK finished a close third on 3,101 votes, while the Liberal Democrats got 387 votes and the Green Party won 368.
As local election results were counted across the country, Keir Starmer declared the “seismic” Blackpool South result “the most important result today”.
***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.***
Speaking from the constituency later on Friday morning, the Labour leader said: “It is incredible to have won by such a swing, a 26% swing. That’s the fifth swing of over 20% to the Labour party in by-elections in recent months and years. It is a fantastic result, a really first class result.
“And here in Blackpool, a message has been sent directly to the prime minister, because this was a parliamentary vote, to say we’re fed up with your decline, your chaos of your division and we want change. We want to go forward with Labour”.
The by-election took place in Blackpool South alongside local elections across England and Wales. There remain hundreds of seats still to be declared, along with 10 mayoralties and 37 police and crime commissioners, in the coming hours and days.
Blackpool South is now the seventh seat the Conservative Party has lost to the Labour Party in this parliament.
John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, told the BBC the result in Blackpool South is further indication of Labour being on track for a significant majority at the general election.
“This is now the fifth parliamentary by election in which we’ve seen swings of over 20% from Conservative to Labour”, he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
He added: “The last time we had swings with that size of a degree of regularity was the 1992-1997 parliament. Tony Blair didn’t get as many as that, and we know what happened in 1997.”
The by-election was called after the former Conservative MP Scott Benton was caught in a lobbying sting by The Times newspaper.
Benton was ultimately suspended from the House of Commons for 35 days, meaning he was subject to a recall petition in his constituency. However, instead of facing removal from his seat, he resigned from parliament, triggering a vote for a new MP.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter
here.
The post Labour wins Blackpool South by-election as Keir Starmer hails ‘seismic’ result appeared first on Politics.co.uk.