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The Conservatives have suffered two heavy by-election defeats, with Labour overturning huge majorities to take Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The party saw off a challenge from the Liberal Democrats to make history in Mid Bedfordshire, overcoming a 24,664 Tory majority to win the seat for the first time. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In Tamworth there was a 23.9% swing to Labour from the Tories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Leader Sir Keir Starmer said Labour was “redrawing the political map”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“I think this really is a gamechanger,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“There is a confidence now in this changed Labour party that we can go anywhere across the country, put up a fight and win seats that we’ve never won before.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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However, he said: “I don’t want to get carried away” and added that “every single vote on this journey has to be earned”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Tory Party chairman Greg Hands said the results were “disappointing” but that the “biggest problem was Conservative voters staying at home”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Clearly for us I think it is right that a number of our voters are unhappy with the government,” he told BBC Breakfast. “We clearly have a job to do to win them back.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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With the Tories also trailing in the national polls, the results have provided a boost to Labour ahead of an expected general election next year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n- Follow live updates<\/li>\n
- When is the next general election?<\/li>\n
- Analysis: By-election results show terrible night for Tories<\/li>\n
- Labour wins historic victory in Mid Bedfordshire<\/li>\n
- ‘Incredible’ win for Labour in Tamworth by-election<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The largely rural constituency of Mid Bedfordshire has had a Tory MP since 1931 and has never been held by Labour in its century-long history. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The 24,664 Tory majority was the biggest the party had overturned in a by-election since 1945 and Labour’s Alistair Strathern secured a swing of 20.5% to win by 1,192 votes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In a three-way fight for the seat, the Conservative candidate Festus Akinbusoye, Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, came second with 12,680 votes and Lib Dem Emma Holland-Lindsay came third with 9,420 votes. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In his victory speech Mr Strathern, a former councillor who has worked for the Bank of England, said: “Tonight residents across Mid Bedfordshire have made history, after decades of being taken for granted, feeling left behind, being underrepresented, they made a decision it was time for a change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Nowhere is off limits for this Labour Party and tonight’s result proves it.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n