By-elections 2023 live: Labour takes historic win in Selby & Ainsty after Tories hold Uxbridge & South Ruislip
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Labour has taken a historic win in Selby and Ainsty, overturning the biggest Conservative majority in any election in the party's history.
Keir Mather, 25, became the new MP for the North Yorkshire seat, defeating Tory Claire Holmes, after Boris Johnson's ally Nigel Adams quit as an MP with a majority of 20,137.However it was a mixed night for Keir Starmer, as the Conservatives shocked Labour in London and held Uxbridge and South Ruislip against the odds.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdCouncillor Steve Tuckwell was declared the winner after a recount, and he blamed Labour's loss on Sadiq Khan and the Ultra Low Emission Zone. Labour had been odds on to take Boris Johnson's old seat, who resigned after the Privileges Committee report in Partygate.
In Somerton and Frome, the Liberal Democrats achieved a 29-point swing to take the West Country seat after Tory MP David Warburton resigned after admitting cocaine use amid allegations of sexual harassment.
Follow the latest news, analysis and all the results as they come in on NationalWorld's live blog below. Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
By-elections live
Key Events
Starmer says Selby and Ainsty is 'historic result'
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has described his party's victory in Selby and Ainsty as a 'historic result'. He said this shows "that people are looking at Labour and seeing a changed party that is focused entirely on the priorities of working people with an ambitious, practical plan to deliver".
“Keir Mather will be a fantastic MP who will deliver the fresh start Selby and Ainsty deserves," Starmer said.
“It is clear just how powerful the demand for change is. Voters put their trust in us — many for the first time.
“After 13 years of Tory chaos, only Labour can give the country its hope, its optimism and its future back.”
A seismic win in Yorkshire
The swing from Conservative to Labour at Selby & Ainsty of 23.7 percentage points is the second largest swing managed by Labour at a by-election since 1945.
It is not quite as large as the record 29.1 point swing achieved by Labour at the Dudley West by-election in December 1994.
Labour points the finger at Ulez
Labour has blamed the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) scheme for their by-election defeat in Boris Johnson’s former seat, with shadow justice secretary Steve Reed insisting those responsible for the policy will now need to “reflect”.
Despite Labour’s hopes of winning Uxbridge and South Ruislip, a seat held by the former prime minister with a majority of 7,210 in 2019, Tory candidate Steve Tuckwell managed to retain it for Rishi Sunak’s party.
Speaking after the results were announced from the count at Queensmead Sports Centre in South Ruislip, Labour frontbencher Mr Reed pinpointed the Sadiq Khan-backed scheme as a significant factor behind their defeat.
He told the PA news agency: “I think the winning Conservative candidate just said it, didn’t he? He said that if it wasn’t for Ulez, he believes Labour would have won this by-election.
“Clearly, it did resonate with a lot of people. They didn’t like the fact that Ulez was going to cost people more to drive around at a time when there’s a cost-of-living crisis going on. That’s exactly what Danny Beales was saying all the way through the campaign.
“But I think when the voters speak, any party that seeks to govern has to listen. So that’s what Labour will be doing after this.”
The failure to overturn the Tory majority in the seat was dubbed “Uloss” by a party insider in a sign of the unease at Mr Khan’s plan.
Mr Tuckwell received 13,965 votes to Mr Beales’s 13,470 to claim the constituency for the Tories.
Expert diagnosis
Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice has said the Tories are in “deep electoral trouble” following their by-election defeats.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Taken in the round, these by-election results do suggest that the Conservatives remain in deep electoral trouble, as the opinion polls have been telling us.”
Across the three seats contested, the Conservative vote was down 21 percentage points which is comparable to the national polling, he said.
He said Labour must ask why its hold on the electorate is “apparently so weak” that when a local issue like the Ulez ultra low emission zone in Uxbridge comes up they “don’t perform as they should”.
Sadiq Khan will 'listen to Londoners' on ULEZ
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said he intends to “listen to Londoners” following Labour’s loss at the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.
The party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has suggested Labour did not win Boris Johnson’s former seat because it did not “listen to the voters'” concerns about the Ultra Low Emissions Zone. New Tory MP Steve Tuckwell said that Sadiq Khan had lost the election for Labour.
When asked about this, Khan told the PA news agency: “I think there are a variety of lessons in relation to the by-elections last night.
“I’m quite clear, I’m going to carry on doing what I have been doing over the past few years, which is to listen to Londoners on a whole range of issues, whether it is air pollution, climate change or the support they need to make that transition.
“It is because we are listening we launched the biggest scrappage scheme in the whole country without a penny of support from the government.
“It’s because we are listening we widened the eligibility some weeks ago so that more Londoners are eligibile for the scrappage scheme. We are going to carry on listening.”
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.