The UK's Labour Party (opposition) has achieved an initial success in a by-election, winning the Blackpool South constituency (northeast England) months ahead of the General Election, predicted for later this year.
Voting took place on Thursday following the resignation of outgoing Conservative MP Scott Benton due to a lobbying scandal. In Blackpool, Labour candidate Chris Webb achieved a landslide victory, securing 58.9% of the votes. Sky News' lead psephologist Prof Michael Thrasher said the overnight results were "very bad news" for the Conservatives.
Britain's Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, applauded this seismic victory. He asserted that the victory is the party's most significant result so far and shows that people in the country want change.
"In Blackpool, a message has been sent directly to the Prime Minister, because this was a parliamentary vote, to say we are fed up with your decline, your chaos of your division and we want change. We want to go forward with Labour," he told Labour activists.
"Blackpool speaks for the whole country in saying we have had enough now, after 14 years of failure, 14 years of decline."
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In parallel, segments of local officials in England and Wales were also up for re-election. Voters had the chance to elect eleven mayors, over 2,500 local councillors, and the entirety of the London Assembly on Thursday.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson also tried to cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire, but was turned away from his polling station after forgetting to bring acceptable photo ID – a law introduced by his government in 2022.
In the capital, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (Labour) is bidding for a third term and is heavily favoured against Conservative Susan Hall.
The results will be closely scrutinised, particularly in the West Midlands and the Tees Valley (central and northeast England), where the outcomes for incumbent Conservative leaders Andy Street and Ben Houchen could potentially have serious implications for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Results are expected to trickle in throughout Friday and Saturday.
