The Tories lost two of yesterday’s three by-elections but defied national polling to retain Boris Johnson’s former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. It had long been forecast that Rishi Sunak would become the first prime minister to lose three seats on the same day since Harold Wilson in 1968. But Sadiq Khan’s expansion to outer London of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez), a charge on the most polluting vehicles, dominated the campaign and, in spite of a 6.7 per cent swing to Labour, the party was defeated by 495 votes.
But Sunak will take little comfort from the Tories defying expectations here. Labour overturned a Conservative majority of 20,137 to win Selby and Ainsty in Yorkshire, with the Commons gaining a new “baby of the House” in Keir Mather, 25. This is the largest numerical majority Labour has ever reversed in a by-election. Meanwhile, in Somerton and Frome in the West Country, the Liberal Democrats wiped out a Tory majority of 19,213 as their remarkable revival continued.
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