Labour’s Double Election Win Sees Big Swing Away from Tories

  • Large Tory majorities overturned in Kingswood, Wellingborough
  • Likely to embolden Sunak’s critics in his Conservative Party
Labour’s Gen Kitchen won 13,844 votes in Wellingborough, defeating Conservative Helen Harrison.Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images
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Keir Starmer’s UK Labour Party overturned large majorities to take two parliamentary seats from Rishi Sunak’s governing Conservative Party, handing it a major victory before nationwide elections expected this year.

Labour recorded its second-highest vote swing — 28.5 points — from the Tories in a post-war by-election to take Wellingborough, a central England seat Sunak’s party has held since 2005. It won Kingswood in the southwest with a 16.4-point swing, still well above what analysts expect Labour needs for a governing majority if replicated across the country.