Reeves says Tamworth race shows 'no more no-go areas for Labour'

The tight race to win this week's byelection in Tamworth shows "there really are no more no-go areas for the Labour party now", the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said.

- Aletha Adu

Speaking in advance of the vote in the Staffordshire seat this Thursday, Reeves said the road to Downing Street for Keir Starmer ran through the West Midlands.

Labour has been boosted by internal polling putting it neck-and-neck with the Conservatives in what used to be considered a safe Tory seat.

"We're a changed party and Labour is back in the game," Reeves said.

On the same day, the parties also face a three-way fight with the Liberal Democrats - for Nadine Dorries's seat in Mid Bedfordshire.

Tamworth was held by Labour after a huge byelection victory for the party in 1996, but Chris Pincher won it for the Conservatives in 2010 and almost doubled his majority to nearly 20,000 at the 2019 general election.

Pincher, a former deputy chief whip, announced he would quit this summer after he was suspended from parliament for groping two men at a private members' club last year.

Tucking into a bacon baguette at the Roasters of Tamworth cafe, Reeves suggested that Brexit was no longer the potent electoral issue it had been when 67.5% of people in the constituency voted leave at the referendum.