Due to a tight victory in the west London constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Rishi Sunak avoided being the first prime minister to lose three parliamentary seats in one day.
Rishi Sunak avoids wipeout in elections: The besieged Sunak may have found some solace in that outcome, but the loss of his party’s 20,000 majority in the Selby and Ainsty district and its 19,000 majority in the Somerton and Frome seat will be devastating ahead of the anticipated general election in 2019.
Labour overcame its largest deficit at a by-election since World War Two by winning the northern England seat of Selby and Ainsty by 16,456 votes to 12,295 votes.
Keir Mather, the winning candidate, accused the government of “negligence and complacency” in his victory address, saying that “Conservatives here and in Westminster have failed us for too long.”
Liberal Democrats defeated Conservatives 21,187 to 10,179 in the Somerton and Frome constituency in southwest England. The winning candidate, Sarah Dyke, praised the “stunning and historic victory” and attacked the “woeful government” in her victory speech.
“We’ve been let down and treated like disposables. “Enough is enough. This government is too busy running a circus of chaos,” she argued.
The Conservatives surprised everyone by winning Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the seat Johnson previously held. The victory dealt a shock to both London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Keir Starmer.
The “number one” problem, according to winning candidate Steve Tuckwell, was Khan’s decision to extend a levy on polluting vehicles to outside London boroughs.
He predicted that Labour MPs in nearby constituencies “will now be panicking,” and that this will probably lead to discussions between Starmer and Khan.
“Local problems”
The six-week break in parliament will be a welcome reprieve, but Sunak’s vulnerability is growing as the anticipated general election for next year draws closer.
With double-digit polling leads, the main opposition Labour party is on track to retake power for the first time in more than ten years.
Since March of last year, it has already won six by-elections, taking two of those seats from the Tories.
The resignation of scandal-plagued Johnson as an MP last month brought about the Uxbridge and South Ruislip election.
When he found out that a parliamentary committee made up of members from all parties had found that he had misled to MPs about lockdown-breaking parties during the Covid epidemic and had proposed a 90-day suspension, he resigned.
Deborah Willott, 65, who cast her ballot at a church polling place, told AFP that while Johnson had received a lot of attention, the by-election was really focused on the local issues much more than if it were a general election.
Johnson’s friend Nigel Adams’ failure to receive a peerage nomination led to his resignation, resulting in the Selby and Ainsty by-election.
After admitting to using cocaine, the Tory MP David Warburton resigned, leading to the calling of the third vote in Somerton and Frome.
Sunak, who has not been present on the campaign trail, tried to present an impression of things continuing as usual on Thursday, but he secretly warned backbench MPs to prepare for the worst.
Sunak battles
Rishi Sunak was elected after Liz Truss’ disastrous 44-day term as prime minister, and his election initially succeeded in calming the financial markets that had been shaken by her aggressive tax-cutting programme.
However, the former finance minister, 43, has had difficulty turning around his party’s deteriorating fortunes, which began to happen during Johnson’s “Partygate” affair.
Consistently rising inflation has recently frightened the markets once more, hindering Sunak’s efforts to turn things around.
The worst cost of living crisis in a generation is continuing, with interest rates at their highest level in 15 years and driving up the cost of borrowing for mortgages and other purposes.
Sunak began the year by promising voters five important things, such as halving inflation, expanding the economy, and reducing wait times at the overburdened National Health Service.
On the majority of his promises, he has made little progress, and there are still persistent worries that the UK may enter a recession this year as high interest rates restrain expenditure.
According to YouGov, Sunak’s net favorability has reached its lowest point (-40) since he took office, with two-thirds of Britons expressing an unfavourable opinion of him.