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Labor retained the parliamentary seats of Stretford and Urmston in northwest England, by-election results announced late on Friday showed.
The seat went to the polls to elect a new MP after former Labor minister Kate Green stood down last month after being nominated as deputy mayor of Greater Manchester.
Andrew Western, Labour’s candidate to replace Ms Green, held the seat with a majority of 9,906 votes, the party’s second by-election victory since Rishi Sunak took office less than two months ago.
The victory for Labor comes amid a cost-of-living crisis, soaring inflation and a growing wave of industrial action across the UK.
In his victory speech, Mr Western said the results sent a “strong message” to the Sunak government.
“The Tories have given up on governing and it is increasingly clear that the British people have given up on them,” he said.
“And the people of Stretford and Urmston speak not just for this constituency but for millions of people up and down the land who know that this Government has let us down for the last 12 years.
“Twelve years of Conservative government failure coming to an end.”
Although Mr Western’s majority of 9,906 votes was less than the majority of 16,417 won by Ms Green in 2019, this was due to a greatly reduced voter turnout of around 25 per cent. Turnout is often lower than in general elections and many voters stayed away amid the general expectation that Labor would win.
In percentage terms, Mr Western secured 69.65% of the vote, up 9.34% from the snap general election three years ago – a 10.5% swing from the Conservatives to Labour.
“Labour is ready to work for our country and only Labor has a plan for working people and to create a fairer, greener future,” Mr Western said.
“It is clear from this result tonight and indeed from the result two weeks ago in Chester that people are ready for a Labor government and let the message go out tonight that Labor is ready to govern. Thank you.”
Additional accountability from agencies
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