Labour holds Stoke, loses Copeland in by-election shock [Copeland original Labour seat]

Politico ^ | February 24, 2017 | Zoya Sheftalovich

[C19fan]

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party managed to hold Stoke-on-Trent Central in a by-election Thursday but lost Copeland, a seat it has held since its creation, to Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives.

The Tory win in Copeland is the first time a government party has gained a seat in a by-election since 1982.

Trudy Harrison, the Conservative candidate in Copeland, won the seat with 13,748 votes, beating Labour’s Gill Troughton on 11,601. The swing to the Conservatives from Labour was close to 7 percent. Harrison said her win was “historic” after the results was announced.

[C19fan]

According to Wikipedia Copeland and its prior constituency have been a Labour stronghold since 1910. The last time the Tories won that seat was in 1931. The area was a major coal mining region.

[Spiridon]

Jeremy Corbyn is trying to pull Labour back together and go along with Brexit.

He got most of his caucus with 52 exceptions to support the recent Brexit legislation.

This helped beat back the UKIP challenge for the Stoke seat where 70 percent of the people supported Brexit, which Labour kept.

Tony Blair “came out of retirement” the other week to oppose Brexit.

The corporatists no doubt line his pockets big time, the big banks and big business elites that support the EU.

[Vanders9]

The constituency is to be disbanded at the next general election, so this Conservative MP has, at most, four years to run.

Having said that, this is a major blow for the Labour party.

[xp38]

since 1982 eh? That would be the Thatcher years.

[Vanders9]

Indeed. Specifically it was just as British forces were about to win the Falklands war, and obviously Thatcher was riding high on the strength of that.

Now Theresa May has done the same, without having to win a war. Its a quite remarkable turn of events and it just shows how weak the opposition is in the UK at the moment.

[Vanders9]

Indeed. Specifically it was just as British forces were about to win the Falklands war, and obviously Thatcher was riding high on the strength of that.

Now Theresa May has done the same, without having to win a war. Its a quite remarkable turn of events and it just shows how weak the opposition is in the UK at the moment.