UK bypoll results deliver double trouble for Rishi Sunak ahead of general elections

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced significant setbacks to his leadership as the Opposition Labour Party secured victories in two key English by-elections, setting the stage for a challenging general election later this year.

Labour’s Dan Egan clinched the House of Commons seat of Kingswood in south-west England, while Gen Kitchen secured victory in Wellingborough, located in the East Midlands region.

These outcomes mark a significant reversal for the British Indian leader, as both seats were previously held by Conservatives with considerable margins during Boris Johnson’s tenure in December 2019.

Adding to the pressure, the far-right Reform UK (formerly the Brexit Party) surpassed the Liberal Democrats and Green Party to secure third place, underscoring contentious issues such as immigration. With these results, the Tory-led government has suffered its ninth and tenth by-election defeats since the 2019 general election.

The by-poll in Kingswood was held after Tory leader Chris Skidmore resigned as an MP in protest over Sunak’s green policies. Labour’s Egan managed to overturn his majority of more than 11,000 in the seat.

In Wellingborough, the voter followed Tory MP Peter Bone being recalled by his constituency over claims of bullying and sexually inappropriate behaviour, which he denies. Labour’s Kitchen overturned his majority of more than 18,000 to win the seat with a swing of 28.5 per cent the second highest of all time.

“The Kingswood and Wellingborough results show that people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it,” PTI quoted Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as saying.

“The Tories have failed, Rishi’s recession proves that. Labour is back in the service of working people,” he added.

The twin defeats will come as a major blow for the governing Tories as they prepare for a general election, which Sunak, 43, has indicated will be held in the second half of the year.

The party, which has already been trailing Labour in opinion polls, sought to downplay the significance of the by-election result as a vote of discontent against the Tories.

Conservative MP and former minister in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg told the BBC the Kingswood result was “not as bad as I’d expected” as Tory voters appeared to have stayed at home.

He suggested more could turn out at a general election, which he said “focuses people’s minds in a different way to a by-election”. He insisted that support for Sunak’s leadership was “solid” and “by-elections don’t change that”.

However, news of the economy falling into recession earlier this week and this double poll blow will rattle the Sunak-led Tories as the scale of anti-incumbency becomes clear.

The party will be concerned not only by having lost these seats, but also by the scale and manner of its defeats. Its share of the vote fell by a whopping 37.6 points in Wellingborough, the biggest drop the party has ever suffered in a by-election it was defending, writes pollster Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University.

However, these were by-elections where voters’ discontent with the Conservatives was seemingly not matched in equal measure by its enthusiasm for Labour, he said.
The results also provide some relief for Keir Starmer after a challenging week for the Labour leader, having scaled back his party’s green investment plan and been embroiled in an antisemitism crisis.

With inputs from agencies