Mid Bedfordshire by-election: Labour wins seat from Conservatives

Published

11 months ago

October 20, 2023

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Labour has beaten the Conservatives and held off the Lib Dems to win the hotly contested Mid Bedfordshire by-election.

The seismic result has seen the party of Sir Keir Starmer overturn a huge 25,000 majority in a seat that has been held by the Tories since 1931.

It is Labour’s second win in a night of double by-elections, after also taking the Conservative stronghold of Tamworth.

The tense battle for Mid Bedfordshire was kicked off after the resignation of former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, whose long drawn-out resignation came in anger at being denied a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

Labour candidate Alistair Strathern won 13,872 votes compared to the Conservative Festus Akinbusoye’s 12,680 votes.

In his victory speech he said the result “made history” and showed “it was time for change”.

“Nowhere is off limits for this Labour Party and tonight’s result proves it”, he said.

Speaking afterwards to Sky News, he said he began campaigning the Saturday after Ms Dorries announced her intention to quit “immediately” – although she didn’t formally vacate the seat for over two months after that.

He said the unusually long campaign allowed him to “speak to people and start building that connection and trust” in an area where voters were “deeply sceptical” of politicians.

“This was no longer an area that felt as though it was being treated [with] respect, both nationally and locally, by our MP,” he said.

Labour ‘redrawing political map’

Sir Keir Starmer was also buoyed by this party’s gains – which come ahead of a general election expected next year.

“These are phenomenal results that show Labour is back in the service of working people and redrawing the political map,” the Labour leader said.

“Winning in these Tory strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it.

“Voters across Mid Bedfordshire, Tamworth and Britain want a Labour government determined to deliver for working people, with a proper plan to rebuild our country.

“To those who have given us their trust, and those considering doing so, Labour will spend every day acting in your interests and focused on your priorities. Labour will give Britain its future back.”

The Lib Dems, who won 9,420 votes, also remained upbeat despite coming third place in a seat they had hoped to win.

Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said the party had nearly doubled their share of the vote “which would see the Lib Dems win dozens of seats off the Conservatives” if mirrored in a general election.

She added: “The Liberal Democrats played a crucial role in defeating the Conservatives in Mid Bedfordshire, and we can play a crucial role in getting rid of this Conservative government at the next election.”

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

13 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.