Conservatives snatch Copeland from Labour in by-election

Tory Trudy Harrison took the Cumbrian seat, which had been held by Jeremy Corbyn's party since the constituency was formed in 1983, with a majority of 2,147.

It is the first time a governing party has gained a seat in a vote outside of a general election since 1982, the year before the Labour leader was first elected to Parliament.

Ms Harrison said her victory showed "the people are ready for change".

The Tory triumph will heap pressure on Jeremy Corbyn over his leadership of the party.

Labour earlier held Stoke-on-Trent Central after seeing off a concerted challenge from Ukip leader Paul Nuttall.

Mr Corbyn admitted the party had failed to get its message through in Cumbria.

In her victory speech, Ms Harrison said the result was a "truly historic event".

Ms Harrison polled 13,748 votes to 11,601 for Gillian Troughton, increasing the Conservative vote share by more than 8% as Labour's dropped by nearly 5%.

The last time a ruling party took a by-election seat was 35 years ago in Merton, Mitcham and Morden, although technically it was a Conservative gain from SDP as the sitting MP had defected from Labour to the SDP before the poll.

Before that, the closest comparable case was Sunderland South in 1953.
In Stoke, Gareth Snell secured a comfortable win of 7,853 to his challenger's 5,233, to be elected as the city's new MP.

Although Labour secured a 2,620 majority its vote share fell by around 2%, while Ukip's went up by the same amount.

South Lakes MP Tim Farron said: “These results showed that the Lib Dems are continuing to do well across the country, doubling our vote share in Copeland from the general election and beating UKIP into 4th place. In Stoke our vote share more than doubled.

"Here in Cumbria, Liberal Democrats across the county will continue to fight to protect local health services from Conservative cuts, to fight for a post-Brexit deal that supports local jobs and to campaign for investment in our infrastructure.”