Corbyn buoyed by Labour win in by-election
LABOUR’S by-election win in the marginal Peterborough seat, relegating the Conservatives to third place, was hailed by Jeremy Corbyn as a valediction of its programme to end austerity and invest in community services.
“In this key seat, the Conservatives have been pushed to the margins,” Mr Corbyn said.
“This result shows that in spite of the divisions and deadlock over Brexit, when it comes to a vote on the issues that directly affect people’s lives, Labour’s case for real change has strong support across the country.”
The Brexit Party, formed less than six months ago, was beaten by just 683 votes.
The constituency, which voted 60.9 per cent for Leave in the 2016 referendum, had been regarded as potentially fertile ground for the new party.
But the defeated Brexit candidate, Mike Greene, said it could not match Labour’s organisation on the ground.
The result came as a huge relief for Labour after its dismal showing in last month’s European elections amid complaints that the
party had failed to offer a clear line on Brexit.
In her victory address, the winning candidate, Lisa Forbes, said the result was a defeat for the Brexit Party’s “politics of division”.
“Despite the differing opinions across our city, the fact that the Brexit Party have been rejected here in Peterborough shows that the politics of division will not win,” she said.
The election saw a relatively high turnout for a mid-term poll of 48.4 per cent.
Mr Corbyn said it demonstrated that Labour was ready for a general election and should be written off “at your peril”.
Addressing a crowd of journalists in the city centre as a passerby heckled, he said: “What we did was offer the politics of hope, not the politics of fear.
“We offered the politics of hope to end austerity, to fund our schools properly, to employ our police properly, to give our young people a future in this country.
“Everybody, all the experts wrote Lisa off. All the experts wrote Labour off yesterday. Write Labour off at your peril.
“We are strong, we are very determined to offer that politics that invests in decent services, in decent housing, in decent healthcare and in good quality jobs for the future and a relationship with Europe that doesn’t take us over a cliff edge but protects jobs, protects investment and gives our young people a future.”
He added: “On the day that Theresa May ceases to be leader of the Conservative Party my message is to all the squabbling contenders for the Tory party leadership, bring it on.”
Labour won 10,484 votes to the Brexit Party’s 9,801, with the Tories on 7,243 votes in a seat which has traditionally been a two-way Conservative-Labour marginal.
The by-election was called after Peterborough’s previous MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence. Ms Onasanya was elected as a Labour MP in 2017 with a wafer-thin majority of 607 but was suspended from the party after she was sentenced.