Another important, and negative, signal for the Tories came from Blackpool South, where a by-election was held after the forced resignation of the Conservative MP due to corruption. Labor candidate Chris Webb won by a landslide, regaining for the party a traditionally “red” constituency that had gone to the Tories in the last elections. This is the fifth consecutive victory for Labor in a by-election in the last year.
Labor therefore, in addition to sending another MP to Westminster, has shown that it can win in an area like Blackpool which had voted in favor of Brexit in the 2016 referendum. For this reason, leader Keir Starmer defined the result as “a political earthquake” and called on Sunak to call an election “as soon as possible to make way for the change that people clearly want”.
For the Tories, the defeat was even more painful due to the success achieved by the Reform Party, the reincarnation of the Brexit Party, which won 17% of the votes in Blackpool, placing third, just behind the Conservatives. While Labor pushes on the left, the Tories therefore risk losing the support of right-wing voters ready to vote for Reform.
The only positive note for the Conservative Party was the confirmation of Ben Houchen, elected mayor of Tees Valley for the third consecutive time. Sunak rushed to congratulate him, but the victory seems to be due not to the popularity of the party but of Houchen, who among other things during the election campaign went around with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, distancing himself from Sunak.
Other positive news could come from the West Midlands, where the confirmation of Conservative mayor Andy Street seems likely. Even in this case, however, the success is due to Street’s popularity and personality rather than to his party affiliation.
