Sunak’s Tory defeats are resounding, but he is spared an election whitewash
Rishi Sunak suffered a double defeat in a by-election in safe Tory seats, with Work and the Lib Dems both overturned majorities of around 20,000.
Labor won Selby and Ainstie, while the Lib Dems took Somerton and From to significant fluctuations that will leave many Torah deputies looking nervously at his own majority.
But the Tory leader was denied the prospect of becoming the first prime minister since 1968 to lose three by-elections on the same day when Labor failed to win Boris Johnson’s former seat Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Tory Steve Tuckwell hung on with a majority of just 495 votes, compared to the 7,210 Mr Johnson won in 2019.
In Selby and Ainst, 25-year-old Keir Mather will become the youngest MP in the House of Commons – a child of the House of Representatives – after the 20,137-vote majority was overturned.
For the Lib Dems, a 29.0 percentage point swing in Somerton and Frome saw a Tory majority of 19,213 turn into 11,008 votes for new MP Sarah Dyke.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the Somerton and Frome result showed his party was winning back votes in its former West Country heartland.
“The people of Somerton and Frome have spoken up for the rest of the country, fed up with Rishi Sunak’s out-of-touch Conservative government,” he said.
The victory means Sir Ed became the first party leader since Paddy Ashdown in the 1990s to win four by-elections.
For Labour, the failure to secure a win in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London has seen senior figures scramble to blame the capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan’s plan to extend the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to include outer boroughs.
Labor candidate Danny Beales distanced himself from the policy, saying it was “not the right time” to increase the £12.50 daily charge for cars that do not meet emissions standards.
A party insider called the defeat in the seat “Uloss” in a sign of alarm over Mr Khan’s plan.
In his victory speech, new MP Mr Tuckwell said Mr Khan had cost Labor the seat.
“It was his harmful and expensive Ulez policy that lost them this election,” he said.
“This has not been the campaign Labor expected and Keir Starmer and his mayor Sadiq Khan need to sit down and listen to the people of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.”
Labour’s shadow cabinet minister Steve Reid admitted it was a factor in the campaign.
The shadow justice secretary told the PA news agency: “I think there are a number of issues, but there are certainly a number of voters who have told us they are very concerned about Ulez. Everyone wants to see clean air.
“But for some people, I think, given the chaos that exists in the economy because the Conservatives have wrecked it, and the cost of living crisis that they have fueled, that this is not the time to introduce the Uleza charge.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/labour-mps-uxbridge-frome-ed-davey-b2379314.html
