Labour wins historic by-election in Mid-Bedfordshire

The Labour party have won a historic by-election in Mid-Bedfordshire- after securing 13,872 votes.

Alistair Strathern will be new MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, after winning the hotly contest seat- with majority of over a thousand votes

It follows a three way fight between Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

With the vote triggered by Nadine Dorries' long-burning resignation, it was the largest majority in terms of votes overturned by the party at a by-election since 1945.

Rishi Sunak's challenge to turn around his party's prospects looked even harder when Labour's Alistair Strathern secured a swing of 20.5% to win by 1,192 votes.

In its 105 years of existence, Labour had never won Mid Bedfordshire. They were 24,664 votes behind the Conservatives at the last general election.

But riding a long wave of high national polling and a certain amount of resentment towards Ms Dorries, Labour upended 92 years of Mid Bedfordshire returning Conservative MPs.

Turnout for this by-election was 44.09%, which is down from 73.7% recorded here at the 2019 General Election.

"Political earthquake"

Shadow cabinet member Peter Kyle, who ran the campaign in Mid Bedfordshire, said they had delivered a "political earthquake" to Rishi Sunak's Conservatives after securing a double by-election win.

"This is the biggest by-election shock in history," he said in an interview with the PA news agency.

"It is a political earthquake and it is one that is sending an unignorable message to Westminster and to Rishi Sunak that this country deserves better."

"Nowhere is off limits"

In his victory speech, Mr Strathern said a "resounding message" had been sent to the Prime Minister and claimed winning in the seat, a mix of small towns and rural areas, showed "nowhere is off limits" for Labour.

"Tonight residents across Mid Bedfordshire have made history, after decades of being taken for granted, feeling left behind, being underrepresented, they made a decision it was time for a change," he said.

Tamworth Win

Mr Strathern, a former maths teacher, made it a double for Labour on a night in which the party also overturned a Tory majority of almost 20,000 in Tamworth.

He fended off the Conservatives' Festus Akinbusoye, the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner, who would have been the latest in a straight run of Tory MPs in the constituency going back to 1931 if he had won.

But the former councillor and former Bank of England worker also beat the Lib Dem candidate Emma Holland-Lindsay after a fierce campaign.

The Lib Dems had insisted they were the best placed party to bring over natural Conservatives and win, despite placing third at the last general election, behind Labour.

There had been concerns that the Tories might squeak through on a massively reduced majority because of a split in the anti-Conservative vote. But the Labour victory ended up being by a strong margin, on a 44% turnout.

The background:

The by-election came after former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries quit as MP in anger, at being denied a peerage in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list.

The Tories were defending what should be safe seats in Mid Bedfordshire- one they've held since 1931. With Ms Dorries retaining it in 2019 by 24,664 votes over second-placed Labour.

But allies of PM Rishi Sunak have admitted the party faced "difficult headwinds" here, because of the circumstances of the contests.

"These were always going to be challenging by-elections"

A Conservative Party spokesman said: "These were always going to be challenging by-elections and the rule of thumb is that governments don't win them.

"It is clear that we have to maintain our focus on people's immediate priorities whilst taking long-term decisions which will lead to the change this country needs."

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