UK by-elections: huge swings point to Labour landslide

Britain’s Labour Party has claimed another pair of by-election victories and added two new MPs to its fold, overturning big Conservative majorities in the process. In Wellingborough, the opposition party secured its second-largest by-election swing from the Tories, with 29 per cent, turning a Conservative majority of more than 18,500 into a Labour majority of 13,844 for Gen Kitchen. In Kingswood, Labour’s Damian Egan took the seat with 11,176 votes, overturning the Tories’ previous majority of more than 11,000. The result will bolster Labour after a fortnight of difficult headlines, prompted by a U-turn on its flagship £28 billion green investment pledge and a major anti-Semitism row. Keir Starmer, the party leader, said the results “show people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it”. Reform, previously the Brexit party, came third in both seats, taking fewer Tory votes than anticipated but still enough to make it a serious headache for the Conservatives in any general election. One Tory MP told Tortoise: “I do acknowledge 10-13 per cent will still cause problems for the Conservatives – I’d just have expected Reform to do better and it’s clear [Nigel] Farage is their man that they need.”