Hello and welcome to the details of Polls close in perilous by-elections for UK PM Sunak and now with the details
Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech to students of a school in north London, during a visit, on October 16, 2023. — AFP pic
LONDON, Oct 20 — Polls closed Thursday in two UK by-elections, with defeat in either boding ill for Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his party’s chances at the next general election.
Both elections are in traditionally safe Tory seats, but Sunak’s press secretary has warned of “difficult local circumstances”, setting expectations for a tough night.
Labour has also played down its prospects in the “super safe” Tory seats of Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire, but polling suggests they will be disappointed not to win at least one when the results are announced in the early hours of Friday.
The Mid Bedfordshire poll was called when former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, a loyalist to former prime minister Boris Johnson who blames Sunak for his political downfall, quit her seat. She accused the new prime minister of having abandoned “the fundamental principles of conservatism”.
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The Tamworth poll was triggered when Chris Pincher, who had the seat since 2010, quit after being found to have groped two men in an “egregious case of sexual misconduct”.
Johnson’s handling of the case led to raft of ministerial resignations that spelt the beginning of the end of his premiership.
The Tories won Mid Bedfordshire, which it has held since 1931, by a thumping 24,664 votes and Tamworth by a 19,600 majority in the 2019 general election.
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But it saw a 20,000 majority overturned in a July by-election on a 21 per cent swing and Labour have been leading national polls by more than 10 points for over a year, throwing Friday’s results into the balance.
Policy shifts
Sunak has recently made a number of policy shifts including cancelling part of a costly high-speed rail link and delaying policies aimed at helping the UK achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Despite the shifts, his party has seen little improvement in the polls and defeat in either by-election make the prospect of another Tory victory at the next national vote seem more remote.
Ahead of polls opening on Thursday, Sunak’s press secretary told reporters that “mid-term by-elections are extremely tough for incumbent governments”.
Labour, meanwhile, said that neither seat was on “our target list for the general election”.
“If we were to win Tamworth and had that swing at a general election, it would mean that the Tories will be down to fewer than 60 seats at the next general election,” said a spokesman.
The Tories currently have more than 350 MPs in the House of Commons.
Sunak will not be in the country when the results arrive, having travelled to the Middle East for a visit in the wake of the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. — AFP
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