2023-07-21 20:30:00
22 July 2023, 02:00 AM IST
By-election result assessment of governance?
Rishi Sunak | Photo: AP
London: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party suffered a setback in the by-elections held in three places in Britain on Thursday. The Tories lost two out of three seats. Only in Uxbridge, where the by-election was held to fill the vacancy left by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was he able to win. Here too, the rival Labor Party improved its vote share. Conservative candidate Steve Tuckwell defeated opponent Danny Beals by a narrow margin of 459 votes.
In Somerset and Frome, Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Johanne Dyke won a landslide victory with a majority of 11,008 votes.
In Selby and Ernest, Labor candidate Keir Mather defeated the Tory’s Claire Holmes. The victory was by a majority of 4161 votes. Keir Mather (25) will be the youngest member of parliament. Currently, that position is held by Indian-origin Nadia Vitom.
The defeat in both seats and the narrow victory in Uxbridge caused concern in the Tory camp. The only consolation for the Tories is that Sunak has avoided the infamy of becoming the first prime minister in 55 years to lose three by-elections overnight. Sunak said that although the victory in Uxbridge does not bode well for the upcoming general elections, he will continue with the current plans and work for the people. The backlash is believed to be due to dissatisfaction with the Sunak government in handling the economic crisis caused by inflation in the country and handling strikes in the public sector.
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