Labor improves its position in the English city of Chester, with 61% of the vote
The British Labor Party retained the parliamentary seat in the English city of Chester on Thursday, with 61% of the vote, in the first by-election faced by Rishi Sunak since he became head of government at the end of October. The victory of Samantha Dixon, who led the Labor group on the council of this square in the North West of England, confirms the recovery of the centre-left formation since the 2019 electoral catastrophe and the gradual collapse of the Conservatives after 12 years at the helm of the United Kingdom.
Dixon improved the party’s standing in Chester despite the unfavorable conditions of the by-election, which were forced by the previous Labor MP’s resignation over allegations of sexual abuse. But pressing national issues – particularly the cost-of-living crisis – caught the attention of voters, insisting that “they are tired of the Tory mandate and want the change that Labor offers,” said the new MP.
There was a transfer of support of 13.8% from the government formation to the opposition and a majority of almost 11,000 votes, more than Labor’s in 2019. Participation was 40.8%, within the usual level in these types of partial contexts it also coincided with the football World Cup. However, the swing of the pendulum is less than that of the by-election in the years leading up to Labour’s previous landslide victory, with Tony Blair at the helm in 1997.
Chester’s results reflect the favorable trend toward the creation of Starmer reflected in opinion polls over the past year. “It’s clearly dangerous territory for Conservatives,” said James Johnson, former Prime Minister Theresa May’s adviser on voting intent analysis. Stathclyde University professor and expert on the subject, John Curtice, agrees that past experience suggests the Conservatives are heading for national defeat in the winter 2024 parliamentary election.
Sunak is facing widespread feelings of boredom and inevitable failure for the Conservative party, after four consecutive victories since 2010. The prime minister is more popular than his party in opinion polls, but still fails to contain the exodus of deputies they give fight in 2024. Former minister Sajid Javid this Friday added his name to the growing list of those who will not appear in the next national elections. Javid accelerated the sequence of changes of Tory leaders in Downing Street when he resigned from Boris Johnson’s government minutes before the departure of the same cabinet of then Head of Treasury and current Prime Minister Sunak.
Source: La Verdad
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