Britain's Labour Party dealt a major blow to the ruling Conservative Party after winning two seats in parliamentary by-elections on Friday.
The two contests were for two new lawmakers in votes that suggested that the opposition party is on track to win a national election later this year. The dual defeat underscored the lagging popularity of the governing party.
Furthermore, it would do little to silence British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's critics, who have expressed fear that the Conservative Party could face a near-complete wipe-out at the national election and want him to change course.
Sunak, who is a former investment banker, has struggled to restore his party's fortunes despite recasting himself at various points over the past year as a bold reformer, a stable technocrat, and now as someone who needs more time to "stick to the plan," which he argued is working.
However, with the Labour Party currently ahead in the polls, Sunak might be forced to bend to the demands of some in his party to offer an increasingly disaffected electorate a more right-wing conservative agenda before the national election, as per Reuters.
In a statement, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said that by winning the Tory strongholds, they can confidently say that his party is back in the service of working people. He added that they will work tirelessly to deliver for the people.
The Labour Party leader added that the Tories have failed, adding that Sunak's recession proves that claim. Starmer noted that this is why the people have seen so many former Conservative voters switching directly to the changed Labour Party.
The party overturned a hefty Conservative majority in the central English town of Wellingborough to win the parliamentary seat with 13,844 votes against 7,408. It was what polling expert John Curtice described as the Conservative Party's "worst ever by-election reverse."
The Conservative Party's defeats in Kingswood and Wellingborough are most likely going to compound Sunak's difficulties. They also come at a time when Britain's economy is shrinking, interest rates are high, and the region's health service seems to be in a state of almost permanent crisis, according to the New York Times.
Conservative Party Lagging in Opinion Polls
Opinion polls show that Sunak's party is trailing the opposition Labour Party by double-digit margins. The first result of the two parliamentary by-elections came from Kingswood, where Labour beat the Conservatives by 11,176 to 8,675 votes.
Curtice, on top of calling the Wellingborough vote a terrible result for the Conservatives, also said that it was the party's biggest loss of support in a comparable election in recent times. He added that it would provide Sunak with an awful lot to think about.
With the two latest parliamentary by-elections, the Conservatives have already lost 10 by-elections, which is more than any previous government since the 1960s. Despite the wins, the votes come at the end of a difficult week for the Labour Party.
The party recently dropped its flagship pledge to spend $35.2 billion per year on green projects and was forced to withdraw support for its candidate in the upcoming Rochdale by-election. The decision was made over comments that the candidate made about Israel and Jewish people, said BBC.
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