Not even Blair got swings like these says poll expert

RISHI SUNAK’S Tories were today staring at a heavy general election defeat after losing the Blackpool by-election and scores of council seats.

- Nicholas Cecil, Jitendra Joshi and Rachael Burford

The Conservatives woke to a set of dire results streaming in from overnight election counts.

Labour won the Blackpool South parliamentary by-election with a swing of 26.33 per cent from the Tories, the third biggest since the Second World War.

In the contest triggered by the resignation of former Tory MP Scott Benton following a lobbying scandal, Labour’s Chris Webb secured 10,825 votes, a majority of 7,607.

Tory David Jones came in second with 3,218 votes, just 117 ahead of Reform UK’s Mark Butcher. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “This seismic win in Blackpool South is the most important result today. The swing towards the Labour Party in Blackpool South is truly historic and shows that we are firmly back in the service of working people.” Tory Party chairman Richard Holden admitted it had been a “tough night”, but insisted his party’s losses were “typical for a government in midterm”.

He also stressed that they were coming off a “very high watermark in 2021” when many of these elections were last fought at the peak of Boris Johnson’s popularity as the Covid19 vaccine was rolled out. But elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice told th e Evening Standard: “Unless things improve, the Tories are going to lose the general election. If anything, the Conservatives’ position is a bit weaker than it was 12 months ago.”