Labour has held the City of Chester with an increased share of the vote, delivering a blow to Rishi Sunak in his first by-election test as PM.
Samantha Dixon was elected with a 10,974 majority, and a 61% vote share - Labour’s best ever result in the seat.
The 12% swing from the Tories would be enough for Labour to take power if it was repeated at a general election, said polling expert John Curtice.
Labour had been expected to retain the seat, which it won in 2019 by a majority of 6,164. In that election, the Conservatives came second, winning 38% of the vote. Labour and the Liberal Democrats secured 50% and 7% respectively.
This time around, Ms Dixon won with a 61% share, easily defeating Conservative Liz Wardlaw on a 41% turnout.
The 12% swing from Conservatives to Labour would be enough for Labour to form a new government, Sir John said, but “wouldn’t produce an enormous majority” were it to be replicated in a general election.
The swing to Labour is slightly above that seen during the 1992-97 parliament that ended with a Labour landslide.
I had great hopes for Boris after the 2019 GE, but to say I’m disappointed would be putting it politely
And the prospect of Labour being in charge doesn’t bear thinking about
So unless anything changes, I will be voting for Reform in future
Someone should bang together the collective heads of Reform, UKIP, Heritage and similar parties to form one single, coherent political party that stands up for the UK and its people
Reform will do well when Farage is back. There are already a lot of red wall and blue wall MP’s talking to Reform and I can see a split coming in the party in the near future. Only Reform is delivering on net zero (bin it), fracking (start it), taxation (reduce them), Brexit (finish it) and immigration (sort it). Neither Labour or Conservatives can be trusted. Those topics are hugely important to people and they will vote for a new party if they can trust the leader - Farage is that man, with Richard Tice and Ben Habib.
Remember, the Tories sold out 130+ coastal towns on fisheries alone - that would give them a good start. Just remember what happened in Clacton with Carswell with UKIP. Meanwhile Labour campaigned to get us back in the EU and want single market membership.
There’s a lot of “pant shitting” going on with Labour and Conservative - they know Farage can rally up massive support and win elections, like he did when he split Mays conservative votes in 2016 and with the Brexit Party becoming the biggest single party in the EU within a year of starting, all under Farage.
The smart move is to move all the heated debates (like immigration) to Reclaim, Heritage etc and then get Reform to back them. That way Reform stay detached from the heated debates and the left wing pile-ons, like how the tories did with UKIP in the Brexit Referendum.
The only people who want to change voting systems is the people who never win elections
I don’t want PR because it ends up in coalition governments and hence, nothing ever gets done. The big issues just rumble on and on and the country suffers as a result.
Although we have an 80 seat Conservative majority, it’s not a functioning government, so I don’t think this is the same thing. Something I disagree with Reform and Farage and others about, who hfavour PR, but there again, maybe I’ll change my mind… who knows
No Farage can’t win elections.
He stood for Parliament 7 times, yes 7, but never managed to become an MP.
So he obviously doesn’t have that much support.
Had huge influence on politics, in spite of these defeats, that is what exasperates and the reason those in government are now leaving before GE. A formidable achievement whatever views people have.
The Conservatives and Labour have made pledges aplenty and not delivered, new people with realistic fresh ideas and clarity are needed to maintain democracy, law and order.
lived relatively close to chester once but never imagined it as a safe labor seat but I do know someone and his family who were staunchly labor and he now lives close to chester???
