Double By-Election Loss Could Spell "Deep Deep Electoral Trouble" For Conservatives

The Conservatives' loss of two more seats in by-elections after Labour overturned sizeable Tory majorities in Wellingborough in the east midlands and Kingswood in Gloucestershire last night, will prove difficult to swallow for the governing party, which still harbours hopes it can cling on to power at the next general election.

Labour overturned a Tory majority of more than 18,000 to take disgraced former MP Peter Bone’s old seat in the East Midlands, and another of more than 11,000 in Kingswood which was vacated by former Tory MP Chris Skidmore in protest at Rishi Sunak's record on climate policy. 

The results are the latest in a series of by-election gains for Labour, which the party's leader Keir Starmer said on Friday morning demonstrates that “people want change”. 

The East Midlands of Wellingborough seat will be represented by Gen Kitchen after she secured 13,844 with a majority of 6,436. She beat Conservative candidate Helen Harrison, Bone's partner, who received 7,408 votes. Bone was removed as Wellingborough's MP by recall petition, after an independent watchdog found that he carried out acts of bullying and one act of sexual misconduct, which he denies. The South Gloucestershire seat of Kingswood will be represented by Damien Egan, the former mayor of Lewisham in London, who secured 11,1176 votes with a majority of 2,501. He beat Conservative candidate Sam Bromiley with 8,675 votes.

Veteran elections expert Sir John Curtice said that these by-election results underline that the Conservative party, which has trailed Labour in the polls for well over a year, was in “deep deep electoral trouble”. 

He told BBC Breakfast that “it may well be that the circumstances surrounding Peter Bone’s downfall and his replacement by