Wellingborough and Kingswood: Labour secures double by-election win – BBC News

We have some pictures from this morning’s count centres showing Labour’s two new MPs with their families and supporters following the results.

Labour’s Gen Kitchen has taken the Wellingborough seat and Damien Egan secured the Kingswood seat, both overturning Conservative majorities.

Copyright: PA Media

Copyright: PA Media

Copyright: PA Media

Copyright: PA Media

If you’re just joining us, it’s been a very busy few hours as we received the results of the Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections. Let’s recap:

• Labour secured a double by-election win, overturning two sizeable Conservative majorities

• Leader Sir Keir Starmer described the results as “fantastic” and said it showed “people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it”

• In Wellingborough, Labour’s Gen Kitchen turned over a majority of more than 18,000
• In her victory speech, she said the result “must send a message from Northamptonshire to Downing Street”
• In Kingswood, Labour’s Damien Egan overturned a majority of more than 11,000. He said there was “so much to do” and that he would “work to give Kingswood its future back”

• Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, whose Somerset constituency borders Kingswood, said the result was “not as bad as I’d expected”
• He said Rishi Sunak’s leadership was “solid” and that “by-elections don’t change that”

Laura Coffey

Political reporter, Northampton, reporting from Kettering

Wellingborough hasn’t had a Labour MP since it lost the seat in 2005 to Peter Bone.

Over the last 19 years, the former Conservative MP had grown his majority to over 18,500. It shows this constituency was ready for change.

Labour gave everything to this campaign and it has paid off.

The issues that have played out here, are similar to those across the country – cost of living, NHS and crime. One issue that kept coming up was town centre regeneration for both Wellingborough and Rushden.

But the new MP may only have months or weeks to get their head around what matters to people here before the general election.

Watch the victory speech from new Wellingborough MP Gen Kitchen, who told the crowd she was “delighted” to have won, and that Labour was “ready to serve the people of this country”.

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Labour’s Gen Kitchen, the new MP in Wellingborough, says she is “over the moon” to have won the seat and thanks the voters of the constituency.

“I take the responsibility very seriously, so I’ll be representing and working hard to earn their trust,” she says.

She says she won the seat by fighting a “positive campaign” with a focus on local issues, including the state of the area’s high streets and access to public services.

She adds that the inbox of the local councillor responsible for potholes is going to be “very, very full with my e-mails”.

Asked about renewed questions over antisemitism in Labour, and whether the party had really changed under Sir Keir Starmer, she says it was “night and day different” since she stood at the 2019 election.

“[Different] in both discipline and how we conduct ourselves,” she says. “So from my experience, we have changed.”

The defeated Conservative candidate in Wellingborough, Helen Harrison, has told BBC reporters on the ground that she intends to stand in the constituency at the next general election.

Asked if she is disappointed with the result, Harrison says: “Of Course, yes of course. But I’ll be back and fighting again for the general election”.

Responding to whether she blames Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for the loss, she says: “Of course not”.

Harrison is the partner of former Tory MP Peter Bone, who won the seat in 2005 but lost it in December following a recall petition by his constituents.

The petition came after Bone was suspended as an MP over bullying and sexual misconduct claims, which he denies.

The next election has to take place by January 2025, but is widely expected to be held before the end of this year.

The big headline is that this is a terrible result for the Conservatives.

Their share of the vote is down by nearly 38 points compared with the general election. That is the biggest ever drop that the Conservatives have suffered in a post-war by-election in a seat that they were trying to defend.

No doubt they will want to try and argue that the scale of their defeat is a consequence of the particular circumstances in which the by-election arose, and then the decision perhaps to have Peter Bone’s partner – the former MP who was forced to resign – as their candidate.

The second key feature is that Reform got 13% of the vote in Wellingborough – that is a record result for them.

Although in this instance, their share of the vote is less than Labour’s majority.

It was a very good performance for Labour. The swing from Conservative to Labour is the second biggest in any by-election in post-war history.

But again we should note that the size of Labour’s increase is roughly half the size of the Conservative decrease – much as was the case in Kingswood.

So much for Labour to be congratulated about. But again a by-election that tells us more about the way in which the Conservatives are in deep trouble, rather than necessarily an indication of the extent to which the electorate have necessarily bought into Labour as the preferred alternative.

The swing from the Conservatives to Labour in Wellingborough was 28.5%.

That’s the second largest swing from Tory to Labour at a by-election since the Second World War.

Labour won with a majority of 6,436 votes.

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The new MP for Wellingborough, Labour’s Gen Kitchen, is delivering her victory speech now.

She says she is “delighted” to have been elected and “honoured” that voters have placed their trust in her and the party.

“But I also know from the thousands of conversations I have had during this campaign how desperately people want change and a fresh start for our country,” she says.

“This is a stunning victory for the Labour Party and must send a message from Northamptonshire to Downing Street.”

She says people in the constituency are patriotic and hopeful for the country, but also feel they are “paying more and getting less” from public services.

She adds: “Whether you voted for my party, another party, or no party at all, I will serve you and work to earn your trust again.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer says the “fantastic results” in Wellingborough and Kingswood “show people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it”.

“By winning in these Tory strongholds, we can confidently say that Labour is back in the service of working people and we will work tirelessly to deliver for them,” he says in a statement.

“The Tories have failed. Rishi’s recession proves that. That’s why we’ve seen so many former Conservative voters switching directly to this changed Labour Party.

“Those who gave us their trust in Kingswood and Wellingborough, and those considering doing so, can be safe in the knowledge that we will spend every day working to get Britain’s future back.”

Here are the results in full:

• Labour: 13,844
• Conservatives: 7,408
• Reform UK: 3,919
• Liberal Democrats: 1,422
• Marion Turner-Hawes (Independent): 1,115

• Green Party: 1,020
• Kevin Watts (Independent): 533
• Britain First: 477
• The Official Monster Raving Loony Party: 217
• Andre Pyne-Bailey (Independent): 172

• Ankit Love Jknpp Jay Mala Post-Mortem (Independent): 18

Labour has won the Wellingborough by-election, overturning a majority of more than 18,000.

Stay with us as we bring you the full results.

The candidates in the Wellingborough by-election are gathering on the stage at the count so we’re expecting the result very shortly.

Shadow minister Chris Bryant says he is “delighted” at Labour’s win in Kingswood.

Speaking from the count, he says there were a lot of voters who switched directly from Conservative to Labour, including some who voted Labour for the first time.

“We won today because we put in the hard yards – both in terms of changing the party and knocking every door and talking to all the voters,” the Labour MP says.

“We have got to put in all that in every constituency we need to win. This was a mountain and there is a whole mountain range ahead of us.”

The limited recount of two trays of ballots in Wellingborough has now been completed, officials say.

It’s just as well. Some at the count are beginning to show signs of fatigue.

Despite Labour’s advance, the Green Party managed to win 3.4% of the vote in Kingswood – the fifth best result the party has ever achieved in a by-election.

Polling expert Sir John Curtice says this will be a “mild encouragement” for the Greens that they can make progress in areas where they have a degree of local strength, against a backdrop of concern over climate change.

However, Curtice says that in a general election the Greens may still struggle to hold on to their only seat in Brighton, where incumbent Caroline Lucas is standing down.

“But we shouldn’t ignore the fact they are managing to pick up some votes,” he adds.

We’re being told that a limited recount is taking place in Wellingborough.

Officials have said the recount is of the ballots in two trays, both on the same table.

We’re still expecting a result to be announced shortly, once the recount has been completed.

Hannah Miller

Political correspondent

The Labour win in Kingswood wasn’t unexpected, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that the prospect of the party overturning an 11,000 Conservative majority would have seemed almost absurd less than five years ago.

“Another domino has fallen,” to quote shadow minister Chris Bryant.

After more than a decade out of government, there’s a noticeable glint in his eye at the prospect of power.

For the Conservatives, the result was “not as bad as expected,” said Jacob Rees-Mogg. But this is a seat that has almost always voted for the party that has won power, with the single exception of 1992.

And the fact that Reform have risen to a (distant) third will raise the eyebrows of some on the Conservative backbenches.

The Liberal Democrats lost their deposit, a result that perhaps indicates their voters are willing to vote Labour when it comes to a two-horse race.

This was the last hurrah for voters in Kingswood – the constituency will be abolished and reshaped at the next general election. But tonight the voters here have played a part in shaping the narrative as that unknown date looms ever closer.