LABOUR has won the Selby and Ainsty by election.

Labour's Keir Mather will be the constituency's new MP after taking the seat with a majority of more than 4,000.

He got 16,456 votes ahead of Conservative Claire Holmes who got 12,395.

The by election was called when sitting Tory Nigel Adams quit as the MP.

The 25-year-old will become the youngest MP in the House of Commons – the Baby of the House – after overturning a 20,137 majority.

He said: "It is the privilege of my life to be elected as the Labour MP for Selby and Ainsty.

"Together we have made history and delivered a fresh start for our community.

"Now, it is time for a fresh start for Britain."

Official turnout was 44.77 per cent with 35,886 votes counted.


Read more: Selby And Ainsty By-Election: The Result in Full

 

York Press:

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “This is a historic result that shows that people are looking at Labour and seeing a changed party that is focused entirely on the priorities of working people with an ambitious, practical plan to deliver.

“Keir Mather will be a fantastic MP who will deliver the fresh start Selby and Ainsty deserves.

“It is clear just how powerful the demand for change is. Voters put their trust in us — many for the first time.

“After 13 years of Tory chaos, only Labour can give the country its hope, its optimism and its future back.”

The result was the last to come in from three by elections across the country meaning PM Rishi Sunak has suffered a double by-election defeat in safe Tory seats, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats both overturning majorities of about 20,000.

Along with Labour winning Selby and Ainsty the Lib Dems took Somerton and Frome on a sizeable swing which will leave many Tory MPs looking nervously at their own majorities.

But the Tory leader was spared the prospect of being the first prime minister since 1968 to lose three by-elections on the same day as Labour failed to secure victory in Boris Johnson’s former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

Tory Steve Tuckwell held on with a majority of just 495, down from the 7,210 Mr Johnson secured in 2019.

For the Lib Dems, a 29.0 percentage point swing in Somerton and Frome saw a 19,213 Tory majority turned into a 11,008-vote cushion for new MP Sarah Dyke.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said the Somerton and Frome result showed his party was once again winning votes in its former West Country heartland.

“The people of Somerton and Frome have spoken for the rest of the country who are fed up with Rishi Sunak’s out-of-touch Conservative government,” he said.

The victory means Sir Ed has become the first party leader since Paddy Ashdown in the 1990s to win four by-elections.

For Labour, the failure to secure victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London has led to a blame game among senior figures over the capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan’s plan to expand the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to cover outer boroughs.

Labour candidate Danny Beales had distanced himself from the policy, saying it was “not the right time” to expand the £12.50 daily charge for cars which fail to meet emissions standards.

The defeat in the seat was dubbed “Uloss” by a party insider in a sign of the unease at Mr Khan’s plan.