Labour Secures Game-Changing By-Election Victories, Dealing Significant Blows to PM Sunak in Britain

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak left 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, on October 18, 2023.

Opposition Labour Party overturns two large majorities, dealing a crushing blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives.

The defeats increase the pressure on PM Sunak and are seen as a test of public support before the upcoming national election.

In a surprising turn of events, the Labour Party won two previously safe parliamentary seats, signaling a desire for change among voters.

The outcome has put the Conservatives in a vulnerable position and suggests that Labour may have a chance at winning power for the first time since 2010 in the expected election next year.

While it is common for the governing party to lose by-elections, the scale of the defeat in these long-held Conservative seats is significant and adds more challenges for Sunak, who took over after a period of scandals and chaos.

Labour’s leader, Keir Starmer, who has positioned the party closer to the center, stated that these victories demonstrate that Labour is back in the service of working people and is reshaping the political landscape.

The first seat won by Labour was Mid-Bedfordshire, where they overcame a majority of almost 25,000, marking the party’s largest deficit overcome in a by-election since 1945.

In addition, Labour also overturned a large majority in Tamworth, another former Conservative stronghold, showing the second-highest swing from the Conservatives since World War Two.

Although many Conservatives had already anticipated these losses due to the circumstances of the resignations of the former lawmakers, they acknowledge that Sunak needs to act boldly and make a stronger appeal to voters.

The Conservative party has struggled in by-elections, winning only one out of the last twelve, with half of them caused by resignations due to misconduct.

Greg Hands, the Conservatives’ campaign chief, attributed the low turnout to the challenge the party faces in mobilizing their traditional supporters to vote.

Sunak, a former investment banker, has presented himself as a reformer but is facing difficulties in closing the gap on Labour’s lead in the polls. Issues such as high inflation, economic stagnation, and long waiting times for healthcare have generated dissatisfaction among voters.

During his party’s conference, Sunak tried to position himself as a decisive leader focused on economic revival, but his domestic measures have not significantly impacted the polls so far.

Sunak is currently in the Middle East, working to prevent further escalation between Israel and Hamas.

To turn the tide, some suggest that Sunak, along with his finance minister Jeremy Hunt, needs to reconsider their approach and potentially offer tax cuts to win over voters.

The events in Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth were triggered by high-profile resignations of politicians associated with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Nadine Dorries’ resignation, following her failure to secure a role in the upper chamber of parliament, resulted in Labour winning the seat that the Conservatives had held since 1931. In Tamworth, Chris Pincher’s resignation after being suspended from parliament for inappropriate behavior led to a victory for the Labour candidate, Sarah Edwards.

Peter Kyle, a senior Labour lawmaker, described these wins as a “political earthquake.”

Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

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