Conservatives narrowly hold Boris Johnson's former seat in by-election
It comes as the Tories suffered defeats in two other seats
Last updated 21st Jul 2023
The Tories have narrowly held on to Boris Johnson’s former seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
It comes as the Conservative Party suffered a double defeat in two other by-elections to Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Steve Tuckwell managed to retain the seat by a narrow majority of just 495 votes following a recount.
The Conservative victory means that Rishi Sunak has been spared the prospect of being the first prime minister since 1968 to lose three by-elections on the same day.
But the Prime Minister still saw defeats to the Liberal Democrats in the constituency of Somerton and Frome, as well as in the Selby and Ainsty seat to Labour.
London mayor Sadiq Khan’s policy of expanding the Ulez low emission zone to outer boroughs – including Uxbridge and South Ruislip – has been blamed for the party’s failure to take the seat in the capital.
Labour candidate Danny Beales had distanced himself from the policy, saying it was “not the right time” to expand the £12.50 daily charge for cars which fail to meet emissions standards.
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.
In public, senior Labour figures acknowledged Ulez had been a factor in the vote.
Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said: “I think there’s been a number of issues at play, but there has certainly been a number of voters who have said to us that they are very concerned about Ulez.
“Everyone wants to see clean air. But for some people, I think, given the chaos that there is in the economy, because the Conservatives have crashed it and the cost-of-living crisis that they fuelled, that this is the wrong time to introduce a charge for Ulez.”
In his victory speech, new MP Mr Tuckwell said Mr Khan had cost Labour the seat.
“It was his damaging and costly Ulez policy that lost them this election,” he said.
“This wasn’t the campaign Labour expected and Keir Starmer and his mayor Sadiq Khan need to sit up and listen to the Uxbridge and South Ruislip residents.”