BY-election joy for Tories; disaster for Corbyn

http://news.sky.com/story/stoke-central-by-election-labour-beats-ukip-leader-paul-nuttall-10779400

Copeland by-election: Tories deliver historic win over Labour
The Conservatives deliver a massive blow to Labour by taking the supposedly ultra-safe Copeland seat by 2,147 votes.

Labour has suffered a humiliating defeat by the Tories in Copeland but managed to see off UKIP leader Paul Nuttall in Stoke in a night of double by-election drama.

Jeremy Corbyn's critics blamed him for defeat in Copeland, which saw the Conservatives' Trudy Harrison snatch a shock victory with a majority of 2,147.

But the bid by UKIP's leader - whose by-election campaign had lurched from one crisis to another - to win a seat in Parliament failed by 2,620 votes.

:: LIVE: Reaction as Corbyn faces questions after Labour loss

In Stoke-on-Trent Central, Labour's Gareth Snell, who had also attracted criticism for his own campaign, won comfortably with 7,853 votes to Mr Nuttall's 5,233.



After a night of tension and high drama at the Copeland count in Whitehaven, Ms Harrison beat Labour's Gillian Troughton, whose by-election campaign was almost entirely about the NHS.

In a seat held by former Labour MP Jamie Reed at the 2015 general election with a 2,500 majority, the Conservatives increased their vote share by more than 8%, while Labour's was down nearly 5%.

:: Analysis: Corbyn election win 'impossible'

Despite appalling weather brought to the Cumbrian constituency by Storm Doris, turnout in Copeland was a respectable 51.33%, above average for a by-election, though it was just 38% in Stoke-on-Trent Central.

After her relatively comfortable victory, which came after predictions at the count that the result was on a knife-edge, Ms Harrison told Sky News: "The people are ready for change".

"I think we ran an extremely positive campaign and it was a campaign that represented the needs of this area. And I know this area because I have lived here all of my life.

"I think that, and the combination of Jeremy Corbyn's views on nuclear in an area which is so dependent on Sellafield and on Moorside, contributed to my win tonight."

Minutes earlier, in her victory speech, in the Whitehaven Sports Centre, Ms Harrison - a mother of four daughters - said the result was a "truly historic event".

She said: "It's been very clear talking to people throughout this campaign that Jeremy Corbyn doesn't represent them.

"They want a party which is on the side of ordinary working people, which will respect the way we voted in the referendum and which will build a country which represents everyone. That's why they voted for me tonight.".....etc

Labour have lost the Copeland by-election, a seat they had held for over 30 years, as the Conservatives snatched victory by more than 2,000 votes.

Trudy Harrison polled 13,748 votes while Labour's Gillian Troughton recorded 11,601, meaning they have lost a seat held by them since 1983.

The humiliating defeat piles more pressure on party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who experienced mixed fortunes during Thursday's two by-elections.

Just 30 minutes before the result was announced, Labour learned they had held onto the Stoke-on-Trent Central stronghold by 2,000 votes, brushing aside Ukip leader Paul Nuttall in the process.

But the Conservative's victory in Copeland, where turnout was 51.35%, is the first time a governing party has taken a seat from the opposition for decades.

http://www.itv.com/news/2017-02-24/tories-snatch-copeland-as-labour-lose-historic-seat-held-since-1935/

Snap, LL! Merged

Bit of a catastrophe for Corbyn - and for UKIP. Mind you, Nuttall made a total mess of his campaign.

Oh God.

Corbyn thinks that the reason Labour lost one seat to the Tories, and very nearly lost another to UKIP, despite UKIP's trainwreck campaign, is that Labour isn't Left wing enough.....

The Tories will be in power for a generation.