Labour has won the Blackpool South by-election on a night of tricky election results for Rishi Sunak.
Chris Webb beat Conservative candidate David Jones in the contest to replace ex-Tory MP Scott Benton, who was forced to quit after becoming embroiled in a lobbying scandal.
Labour had been widely expected to win back the seat, and pollsters had warned the Tories could even finish behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK due to the area’s strong support for Brexit and social depravation.
But, in a rare moment of relief for Mr Sunak on an otherwise challenging night, the Conservatives narrowly held off Reform to finish in second.
Mr Webb won the contest with a crushing majority, gaining 10,825 votes, compared with Mr Jones’s 3,218. And, in an escape that will still leave alarm bells ringing for Mr Sunak, Reform was just 100 votes shy of upsetting the Tories on 3,101.
Sir Keir Starmer said the “seismic” win would be the “most important result” of the local elections. The Labour leader said: “This is the one contest where voters had the chance to send a message to Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives directly, and that message is an overwhelming vote for change.”
He added: “The swing towards the Labour Party in Blackpool South is truly historic and shows that we are firmly back in the service of working people.
“I am so proud of the positive campaign we ran. To those who have put their trust in us in Blackpool, and those considering giving Labour their vote, we are ready to serve your interests.
“Our new Labour MP Chris Webb has shown that after years of neglect with the Tories, there is a better alternative. The message to Rishi Sunak is clear. It’s time for change, it’s time for a general election.”
The result is the third biggest swing toward Labour in by-election history, representing a 26 per cent swing from the 2019 general election. Party sources said it is “much bigger” than the 12.5 per cent national swing needed to win a majority at the next general election.
Of the 78 years Blackpool South has been a constituency, it has been held by a Conservative MP for 57.
Mr Benton won the seat, which had been held since 1997 by Labour, for the Tories under Boris Johnson in 2019. He had a narrow majority of just 3,690.
In February, Mr Benton was suspended from the House of Commons for 35 days after being found to have breached the rules.
The House of Commons committee on standards found the MP had given the impression he was “corrupt” and “for sale” after he was secretly filmed saying he could table parliamentary questions and provide “behind the scenes” information for up to £4,000 a month.
Mr Benton was prepared to leak market-sensitive information to an investment fund and ask parliamentary questions on its behalf, in breach of parliamentary lobbying rules, an undercover investigation for The Times found.
He was caught on camera telling undercover reporters posing as investors how he was willing to take actions that would break Parliament’s lobbying rules.
In a meeting in March 2023, Mr Benton described how he could support a fake investment fund, which he believed was set up by an Indian businessman looking to make investments in the UK betting and gaming sector, by attempting to water down proposed gambling reforms.
Mr Benton also offered a “guarantee” to provide a copy of an upcoming gambling white paper to the business at least two days before publication, potentially allowing it to benefit from market-sensitive information.
He also said he could table parliamentary written questions and said he had previously done it on behalf of a company.
Mr Benton said he could offer “the direct ear of a minister who is actually going to make these decisions” and speak to them outside the Commons voting lobby.
The MP agreed with a fee proposed by the reporters in the range of £2,000 to £4,000 a month for two days’ work.
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