By-election live: Rishi Sunak insists ‘plan is working’ despite Tories’ devastating double defeat
Rishi Sunak has insisted that his government’s “plan is working” as he urged voters to stick with the Conservatives in the wake of a devastating double by-election defeat.
The prime minister said the circumstances surrounding the by-elections in Kingswood and Wellingborough were “particularly challenging” as Labour overturned massive majorities of 11,220 and 18,540.
The results mean the government has now suffered the most by-election defeats of any government since the 1960s, surpassing the eight defeats suffered by John Major in the run-up to Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide victory.
The results provided Labour with a boost after a U-turn on the party’s pledge to spend £28 billion on green projects and an antisemitism row that forced it to drop its candidate for another by-election in Rochdale in two weeks’ time.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer admitted the past week had been turbulent for the party as he told BBC Breakfast: “I did something that no leader of the Labour party has done before which is remove a candidate in a by-election where they cannot be replaced.”
