Britain’s ruling party barely retains David Cameron’s seat

LONDON: The ruling Conservative Party saw a major fall in support but managed to hold on to former premier David Cameron’s seat in Oxfordshire, while Labour won overwhelming support in the seat held by former MP Jo Cox, who was killed during the EU referendum campaign.

The two by-elections on Thursday were significant in the postBrexit situation, and reflected new support for the Liberal Democrats, whose candidate finished second in Cameron's constituency of Witney, Oxfordshire, pushing Labour to third spot.

Conservative candidate Robert Courts polled 20,000 less votes than Cameron did in 2015, but won by 5,702 votes.

The vote share of the Liberal Democrats in Witney rose from 7% to 30%, invigorating the party that was in the ruling coalition from 2010 to 2015.

Green candidate Larry Sanders - the brother of former Democrat presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders - came fourth with 3.5% of the vote.

Cameron stepped down as prime minister after Britons voted in the June 23 referendum to exit the European Union, and later resigned as the MP from Witney.

Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron said the party’s “resurgence” signalled that it was "back in the political big time" and represented a return to three-party politics in Britain.

“This was the 10th safest Tory seat in the country with a massive 25,000 majority, yet the Conservatives were seriously rattled," he said.