Labour by-election win piles pressure on Sunak

LABOUR gave Rishi Sunak a bloody nose yesterday as it boosted its majority in the Chester by-election.

The Tories recorded their worst performance in the seat for 190 years and pollsters predicted Labour would win the next general election.

In the Prime Minister’s first major electoral test, Labour councillor Samantha Dixon emerged as the city’s new MP by 10,974 votes.

This was up from 6,100 in 2019, or from a 50 per cent share of the vote to 61 per cent, although the turnout was far smaller.

While Labour was expected to hold the seat, the swing from the Tories of nearly 14 per cent will set alarm bells ringing in Downing Street.

It is the party’s worst showing in the City of Chester seat since 1832 and experts said it reflected national polling showing Labour on a 20 or so point lead. But pollsters said it suggested Mr Sunak had enjoyed a ‘slight bounce’ as the gap had narrowed since Liz Truss’s disastrous premiership.

Conservative peer and pollster Lord Hayward said the Tories could take comfort in their vote share staying above 20 per cent, as ‘it’s not quite as bad as the opinion polls have been suggesting’.

Veteran pollster Sir John Curtice said Labour ‘have not done spectacularly but they’ve done well’, adding: ‘Things are probably not as bad as the 30-point lead Labour were enjoying in the final days of the Liz Truss administration.’ But he said Labour looked a ‘good bet’ to win the next election and the result, if replicated across the country, would ‘almost undoubtedly’ be enough for a Labour majority.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed the victory showed voters were ‘fed up’. He said: ‘There’s this strong sense now that the Government has run out of road, run out of ideas, hasn’t got a mandate, and it’s time for change.’

The contest was started by the resignation of Christian Matheson after complaints of ‘serious sexual misconduct’ were upheld by a parliamentary watchdog. Mr Matheson, who denied the allegations, faced a four-week suspension.

In her victory speech, Mrs Dixon said: ‘People in Chester and across our country are really worried.

‘ Worried about losing their homes because they can’t afford the mortgage repayments or the rent, worried about whether they can put the heating on, worried about whether they can put food on the table for their families.

‘This is the cost of 12 years of Conservative Government.’

Turnout was 41.2 per cent, with a total of 28,541 votes cast.