Labour ‘make history’ after by-election wins
LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party had “made history” after it overturned huge Tory majorities in the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections.
The party leader vowed to “repay” people who lent Labour their vote in the two seats.
Sir Keir said: “We know that voters here have voted for us and they’ve put their trust and their confidence in a changed Labour Party, and we will repay them for that trust and confidence.
“We do so humbly. And I know there are people yesterday who probably voted Tory in the past who voted for a changed Labour party because they despair at the state of their own party.
“I’m glad that they see that our party is changed and they can put their trust and confidence in them, and I hope that that persuades other voters across the country who may have voted for other parties in the past, that the party of the future, the party of national renewal to reject the decline of the last 13 years, is this changed Labour Party.”
Sir Keir claimed Labour was “redrawing the political map” by taking seats which had been comfortably Conservative, ahead of the general election expected next year.
In the Staffordshire town of Tamworth, Labour’s Sarah Edwards defeated Tory Andrew Cooper by a majority of 1,316. The Conservatives were defending a 19,634 majority, but a 23.9 percentage point swing to Labour saw that eradicated.
The result was the second-highest ever by-election swing to Labour.
There was even better news for Sir Keir as Mid Bedfordshire saw the largest majority overturned by Labour at a by-election since 1945. The Tories had held Mid Bedfordshire since 1931, with a 24,664 Conservative majority in 2019. But Mr Strathern took the seat with a majority of 1,192 over his Tory rival Festus Akinbusoye, with a swing of 20.5 percentage points to Labour.
Appearing alongside Mr Strathern, Sir Keir said: “What a fantastic candidate… He has not only won here, he’s made history here over the past 24 hours. An incredible achievement already.”