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The Conservatives have won Boris Johnson’s old seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip following a by-election.

The vote was triggered after the former prime minister stood down as an MP last month. Mr Johnson’s decision to leave the Commons shortly before it was recommended he be suspended for 90 days was enough to have potentially triggered a vote anyway.

Conservative Steve Tuckwell, a local councillor, has now been elected as the MP for the West London constituency – seeing off Labour’s Danny Beales.

Follow by-election coverage live: Tories hang on in Uxbridge after ULEZ backlash

The Uxbridge and South Ruislip results in full

  • Danny Beales – Labour Party – 13,470
  • Steve Tuckwell – Conservative Party – 13,965
  • Blaise Baquiche – Liberal Democrats – 526
  • Sarah Green – Green party – 893
  • Laurence Fox – Reclaim Party – 714
  • Piers Corbyn – Let London Live – 101
  • Cameron Bell – Independent – 91
  • Count Binface – Count Binface Party – 190
  • Richard Hewison – Rejoin EU – 105
  • Rebecca Jane – UKIP – 61
  • Enomfon Ntefon – Christian People’s Alliance – 78
  • Leo Phaure – Independent – 186
  • 77 Joseph – Independent – 8
  • Kingsley Hamilton – Independent – 208
  • Ed Gemmell – Climate Party – 49
  • Steve Gardner – Social Democratic Party – 248
  • Howling Hope – Official Monster Raving Loony Party – 32

The Conservatives won 13,965 votes, Labour 13,470 and the Liberal Democrats 526 – meaning the majority is 495.

The swing was 6.7 from Conservative to Labour – but not enough to change the party in charge.

The race was understandably overshadowed by Mr Johnson, although the Tories wanted to focus on the expansion of London’s Ultra-low Emission Zone (ULEZ), being championed by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.

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Sources within the Labour Party admitted after polls closed that the controversial measure played a sizeable role in the election and came up frequently on the doorstep.

Speaking after his victory was announced, Mr Tuckwell said that Mr Khan “lost Labour this election”, and called for the mayor and Sir Keir to “sit up and listen” and change tack on the ULEZ.

This is a seat the Labour Party would have expected to win, given the circumstances.

It means Rishi Sunak has avoided a by-election clean sweep on a night where he faced three votes – Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London, Somerton and Frome in Somerset and Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire.

Mr Tuckwell is a lifelong resident of the area, and has been a councillor since 2018.

Ahead of the election, Camden councillor Mr Beales held an eight-point lead in the polls over his Conservative opposition.

He had campaigned on the government’s record in office, including rising mortgage rates and the cost of living crisis, as well as local issues like the state of local hospitals.

Mr Beales had also criticised the expansion of the ULEZ, saying it’s “not the right time” to enlarge the zone – but this seems to have been futile.

Thangam Debbonaire, Labour’s shadow leader of the House of Commons, told Sky News that the swing they achieved in Uxbridge and South Ruislip was enough to be the largest party of government across a general election – although this would not secure them an overall majority.

A Labour spokesperson said: “This was always going to be a difficult battle in a seat that has never had a Labour MP, and we didn’t even win in 1997.

“We know that the Conservatives crashing the economy has hit working people hard, so it’s unsurprising that the ULEZ expansion was a concern for voters here in a by-election.”

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Khan denies ‘war on motorists’

There was a long list of 17 candidates in the election, which is not uncommon in a former prime minister’s seat.

South Ruislip is the Tory heartland within the constituency, and a growing Asian community has also been more willing to vote Conservative.

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Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

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Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

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Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.

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