By election results 2024 live: Labour win Wellingborough and Kingswood in double blow for Rishi Sunak

Turnout in Wellingborough is very slightly higher than Kingswood at 38.1%. Fairly impressive at both polls, given the date is so close to the general election.

Finally we've managed to dodge the expectation management for once. Labour Rural Affairs Minister Toby Perkins says he is ... "expectant".

He said: “We’ve got a by-election in a seat that we have been losing in huge quantities in recent elections and suddenly, we are clearly competitive, as it seems we’re being listened to in places like Wellingborough again, so we’re hugely excited.

“But we’re still a good few hours away from the result, so after that we’ll either be ecstatic or down in the dumps.”

Reform UK leader Richard Tice has arrived at the Wellingborough count, my colleague at the Northamptonshire Telegraph Alison Bagley tells me. Reform is hoping for its best ever by-election result tonight, and given Tice has shown up they must be confident. This was a seat that voted for Brexit by 63%, and if the Tories haemorrhage votes to Reform UK it could be precursor to the general election later this year.

One person who is watching on very closely in Kingswood is Jacob Rees-Mogg. The former Cabinet minister is at the count and if Labour flip the seat he has good reason to be concerned. That's because part of Kingswood is merging with his constituency of North East Somerset at the next election due to boundary changes which are coming in. Will tonight's result spell bad news for Rees-Mogg in the future?

Richard Tice, the Reform UK leader, is here in Wellingborough and says his party is “on the up”. Reform is expecting its best two by-election results tonight, and Tice says its hoping to achieve double figure vote shares.

A source has just told me Reform may actually be on 15% or more. They added that Labour are expected to win the seat easily, with the Tory vote going through the floor.

The Kingswood result is coming up, the count is just waiting for Labour candidate Damien Egan.

Damien Egan, the former Mayor of Lewisham, is the new MP in the South Gloucestershire constituency, winning 11,176 votes. The Tories' Sam Bromiley received 8,675 votes.

The Labour leader said: "This is a fantastic result in Kingswood that shows people are ready to put their trust in a Labour government.

"By winning in this Tory stronghold, we can confidently say that Labour is back in the service of working people and we will work tirelessly to deliver for them.

"To those who have put their trust in us, you can be safe in the knowledge that the Labour Party will deliver on your priorities. Labour will give Britain its future back."

New Kingswood MP Damien Egan has been speaking. He said: "Most of all though I'd like to say thank you to the residents and people of Kingswood. Your honesty, your frankness has helped keep my campaign rooted in the issues that are really impacting our community - the cost of living crisis, safety on our streets, the NHS.

"Thank you for giving me your trust and for allowing me to serve the community that I'm from. It's a trust that I promise to repay, to show that politics can be different and can make a difference."

Egan mentioned "Rishi's recession" (everyone drink), adding: "In Kingswood and across the country, 14 years of Conservative government have sucked the hope out of the country."

Egan said: "We can choose a changed Labour party, a government that puts people first, that ensures a child's background isn't a barrier to their future and that we will rebuild Great Britain."

In Kingswood, the Reform UK candidate's votes were slightly larger than the Labour majority. The same thing happened in Mid Bedfordshire and is becoming a slightly worrying trend for Rishi Sunak. If this continues to the general election it will make it almost impossible for the PM to stay in power.

Not long for the Wellingborough result folks, the podium has been set up and we're expecting the announcement around 3am. Labour's candidate Gen Kitchen is here, she's very much expected to win the seat.

In this case no news is not good news - we are still waiting in Wellingborough. The counting has finished, the candidates have gathered, so all we're waiting for is the result. To quote This American Life's Ira Glass stay with us.

Jacob Rees-Mogg has been speaking at the Kingswood count. He says this doesn't say anything about a general election and added that he "thought it would be worse". The former Cabinet Minister did say that the Tories need to learn from the result.

“I think we should learn from this result and look at what happened with the Reform Party vote," he said. "Conservative Party votes are most likely to come from people who stay at home or who voted Reform.

“How do we win them back to the Tory family? People who share many views and values with us. By delivering things they believe in and that means lower taxation, taking more of the advantages of Brexit, with more of the removal of EU retained law, it means doing less on the green issue that is making people cold and poor, and helping revitalise our economy. I think those issues will have a great appeal.”

However, as More In Common's Luke Tryl has tweeted, Reform voters do not all have the Tories as their second preference.

Staff were hoping to declare Wellingborough by 3am and I was looking forward to be tucked up in bed, but they have lost 10 votes so all the bundles are being rechecked. This could be a long night ...

Labour has secured a huge win in Wellingborough, with 28-year-old Gen Kitchen the new MP. Peter Bone had previously held a majority of more than 18,000 in the strong Leave seat, however that was blown out of the water. Kitchen received 13,844 votes, 6,436 more than her Tory rival Helen Harrison, Bone's girlfriend.

Sir Keir Starmer said the results of Thursday’s by-elections show the public “want change”.

The Labour leader said: “These are fantastic results in Kingswood and Wellingborough that show people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it.

“By winning in these Tory strongholds, we can confidently say that Labour is back in the service of working people and we will work tirelessly to deliver for them.

“The Tories have failed. Rishi’s recession proves that. That’s why we’ve seen so many former Conservative voters switching directly to this changed Labour Party.

“Those who gave us their trust in Kingswood and Wellingborough, and those considering doing so, can be safe in the knowledge that we will spend every day working to get Britain’s future back.”

The swing to Labour in Wellingborough was a whopping 29%. See the full results below: