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Britain's Labour Party was able to win two parliamentary seats that have been held by Conservatives for years and shows a shift in the political landscape.
Britain's Labour Party won two parliamentary seats against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government.
The two seats were previously seen as safe for the governing Conservatives. Opposition leader Keir Starmer said that the development shows that the voters in the region want to see a change during the next national election.
Britain's Labour Party Wins Two Parliamentary Seats
The loss of two parliamentary seats showed a big slump in support for Conservatives, who have won the last four national votes. The situation also suggests that the Labour Party is on course to win power for the first time since 2010 at an election that is expected to come next year.
Despite the by-elections often being lost by the governing party, the scale of the two defeats that Conservatives have held for years has pressured Sunak's government. As per Reuters, he took over almost a year ago after his party became embroiled in scandals and chaos under previous leaders.
Starmer added that the votes for the Labour Party showed that it was the "party of the future." He added that voters have started to turn their backs on a failed Tory government and have seen enough of the decline in the last 13 years.
The Labour Party won Mid-Bedfordshire by overturning a majority of almost 25,000, the largest deficit the party has overcome in a by-election since 1945. The party also overturned a large majority in another former Conservative stronghold, Tamworth.
The region is a largely rural constituency in central England and had the second-highest swing from Conservatives since World War II. Many conservative lawmakers have already resigned themselves to losing the two votes. However, many others said that the prime minister still had time to try and reverse the substantial lead that Starmer's party has enjoyed in opinion polls.
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Declining Support for Conservatives
Analysts have argued that the recent development is the latest evidence that the Labour Party is heading toward a decisive victory when the nation goes to the polls. The two parliament victories come as the country's health care system is suffering acute strain and the nation itself is facing persistent labor unrest and having its economy stagnate amid high inflation, according to the New York Times.
A professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, Tim Bale, said this is starting to look "terminal for the Tories now." He added that the two lost parliamentary seats indicate a time-for-a-change mood in the British electorate. He said it would be challenging to hold the wave back once that happens.
In the Tamworth by-election, Labour's Sarah Edwards took the votes with a 23.9 percentage point swing despite the Conservatives defending a 19,600 majority. On the other hand, the Mid-Bedfordshire vote was won by Alistair Strathern, who overturned a 24,644-vote Tory margin.
Several experts have also argued that the massive swings in the two regions to support Labour are easy to compare to the collapse in Conservative support under Prime Minister John Major in the 1990s, said EuroNews.
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