Labour has taken a seat from the Conservatives in a by-election for the first time in 15 years as it won Corby in Northamptonshire, which became vacant after Conservative MP and chick lit author Louise Mensch announced she was to move to New York.
Andy Sawford won by 7,791 votes, with the Tories second and UKIP third. The Liberal Democrats, in fourth place, lost their deposit. They looked very hard for it and asked for two recounts. Nick Clegg must be feeling pretty good about that achievement tonight.
Not a huge surprise, but with fears about a low turnout following some of police and crime commissioner races it is a solid win for Labour. The took 17,267 votes in a 12.67% swing from the Conservatives. If repeated a general election would give the party a 100 seat majority.
It is a worrying outcome for the Lib Dems who became the fourth party as UKIP came in a comfortable third with 5,108 votes. The Lib Dems in fourth picked up just 1,770 votes. The BNP picked up 614 votes and came fifth.
In his victory speech, Andy Sawford said: “This result is a historic win for today’s one-nation Labour Party. Today Middle England has spoken and they have sent a very clear message to David Cameron. This is truly a significant result.”
Ed Miliband gets today’s one nation soundbite in. He said that new Corby MP Andy Sawford was a “one nation candidate for a one nation Labour Party”.
