Labour have compounded Tory woes with their second by-election success of the night.
Keir Starmer’s party overturned the Conservatives’ 18,540 majority to send Gen Kitchen to Parliament as their newest MP.
It comes after Labour clinched by-election success in Kingswood, overturning the Conservative majority of 11,220.
Labour won Wellingborough from the Conservatives on a swing in the share of the vote of 28.5 percentage points: the second largest swing from Tory to Labour at a by-election since the Second World War.
Rishi Sunak has had a difficult night
PAStarmer spoke out on his party's success, saying: "These are fantastic results in Kingswood and Wellingborough that show people want change and are ready to put their faith in a changed Labour Party to deliver it.
"By winning in these Tory strongholds, we can confidently say that Labour is back in the service of working people and we will work tirelessly to deliver for them.
"The Tories have failed. Rishi’s recession proves that. That’s why we’ve seen so many former Conservative voters switching directly to this changed Labour Party.
"Those who gave us their trust in Kingswood and Wellingborough, and those considering doing so, can be safe in the knowledge that we will spend every day working to get Britain’s future back.”
Keir Starmer is delighted with the by-election results
GB NewsThe results provided Labour with a boost after a U-turn on the party’s pledge to spend £28 billion on green projects and an antisemitism row that forced it to drop its candidate for another by-election in Rochdale in two weeks’ time.
The twin defeat piles more pressure on the Prime Minister following the news that the UK entered a recession at the end of 2023, while Reform UK scored its best by-election results after targeting disgruntled voters on the right, securing more than 10 per cent of the vote for the first time in a by-election.
Reform deputy leader Ben Habib won 13 per cent of the vote in Wellingborough, while Rupert Lowe won 10 per cent in Kingswood.
The results also mean the Government has now suffered the most by-election defeats of any government since the 1960s, surpassing the eight defeats suffered by John Major in the run-up to Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide victory.