Blow for Jeremy Corbyn as Tories achieve historic win in Copeland by-election

Jeremy Corbyn - Image credit: Anthony Devlin/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Labour has been dealt a major blow after the Tories pulled off a massive shock win in yesterday’s Copeland by-election.

The historic result was the first time the UK Government had been beaten an opposition party in a by-election in over 35 years, since 1982.

Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison won with 13,748 votes, giving her a majority of 2,147 over Labour's Gillian Troughton.

In her victory speech, Harrison said: "It's been very clear talking to people throughout this campaign that Jeremy Corbyn doesn't represent them.

"They want a party which is on the side of ordinary working people, which will respect the way we voted in the referendum and which will build a country which represents everyone. That's why they voted for me tonight."

There was better news for Labour in last night's other by-election in Stoke-on-Trent Central, where the party managed to see off the challenge of UKIP leader Paul Nuttall to win it by 2,621 votes.

But there is no doubt that losing in Copeland – a seat Labour has represented since the constituency was created in 1983, as well as having held its predecessor since the 1930s – is a serious blow for Jeremy Corbyn.

His initial reluctance to support a project to build a new nuclear power plant in the constituency was thought to have damaged to Labour's campaign.

The defeat also calls into question Labour's election strategy, as the party made the NHS, and in particular the threat to maternity and A&E services at West Cumberland Hospital, the central theme of its campaign.

Labour insiders have admitted that the issue of his leadership came up repeatedly on the doorstep, with many voters saying they could not support the party while he is in charge.

It is also a strongly pro-Brexit area, with 62 per cent voting Leave in last year’s EU referendum, so the result can be seen as an endorsement of Theresa May’s strategy on Brexit.

Reacting to both results, the Labour leader insisted his party "will go further to reconnect with voters".

Corbyn said: "Labour's victory in Stoke is a decisive rejection of UKIP's politics of division and dishonesty. But our message was not enough to win through in Copeland. 

"In both campaigns, Labour listened to thousands of voters on the doorstep. Both constituencies, like so many in Britain, have been let down by the political establishment.

"To win power to rebuild and transform Britain, Labour will go further to reconnect with voters, and break with the failed political consensus."