LONDON (AP) 鈥 Britain鈥檚 opposition Labour Party has handily won a special election for a northwest England seat in Parliament, the first test of voter sentiment since Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took office in October.
Labour held onto the City of Chester constituency with an increased vote share of 61%, according to results announced Friday. Labour won 50% of the votes in Chester at the last national election in 2019.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said the result showed people are 鈥渇ed up鈥 with the Conservative government.
Thursday鈥檚 election was called after Labour lawmaker Christian Matheson stepped down over allegations that he made inappropriate sexual advances to a member of his staff.
The result is bad news for the Conservatives, whose popularity has been hammered by the scandal-plagued three-year-term of former Prime Minister , which ended in September, and weeks of turmoil under his short-term successor, . Truss quit in October after her spooked financial markets and rocked the economy.
Sunak replaced her and announced aimed at restoring confidence in the nation鈥檚 finances. But the economic picture remains gloomy: in October, many people are struggling to pay and millions of workers, including railway staff, ambulance drivers and nurses, are staging strikes to demand major pay increases.
Newly elected Chester lawmaker Samantha Dixon said that 鈥減eople in Chester and across our country are really worried.鈥
鈥淲orried about losing their homes because they can鈥檛 afford the mortgage repayments or the rent, worried about whether they can put the heating on, worried about whether they can put food on the table for their families,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his is the cost of 12 years of Conservative government.鈥
Still, a national election does not have to be held until 2024, and pollsters warned that mid-term special elections often don't predict nationwide results.
Conservative peer and polling analyst Robert Hayward said the Tories were likely relieved they had not done worse.
鈥淭here are some indications that there are opportunities there for the Tory party,鈥 he told Sky News. 鈥淏ut Rishi has to convince the public at large that he can manage out of this crisis, whichever crisis one鈥檚 looking at 鈥 and there鈥檚 a lot of them.鈥
___
Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of British politics at
