Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK Labour Party, has hailed the winning of two by-elections as a “game changer” for his party. The two victories saw Labour overturn huge Tory majorities to secure seats in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth. Sir Keir said that the successes demonstrated Labour’s ability to “win seats we’ve never won before”, thus “redrawing the political map” ahead of a general election expected next year.
The largely rural constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, which has had a Conservative MP since 1931, has never previously been held by Labour. The party overcame a 24,664 Tory majority to win there for the first time. In Tamworth, the Tories experienced a 23.9% swing to Labour – the second-highest swing from the Conservatives since 1945. Turnout was down in both areas.
Sir Keir insisted that the results reflected positively on the Labour Party, rather than simply registering dissatisfaction with the Conservatives. He stated: “I know there are people who probably voted Tory in the past who vote for a changed Labour Party this time because they despair at the state of their own party,” adding that Labour was now “the party of the future, the party of national renewal.”
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, conceded that the results were “obviously disappointing” for the Conservatives, but also stressed that there had been “local factors at play” with both by-elections. Mid-term by-elections, he noted, were often difficult for any incumbent government. It was important, Sunak added, for the Conservatives to remain committed to their priorities
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