Conservative landslide in UK safe Labour parliament seat | Eastern North Carolina Now

 

British Conservatives won a 23 point landslide in a special election in a working class  district  regarded  as a safe Labour seat and   held by Labour for  60 years.  The Hartlepool  by-election, resulting from the resignation of its Labour incumbent, was a huge upset as the party in power usually loses seats in by-elections, not the main opposition party.  

 

The Conservative nominee won over 51% of the vote with 11 other parties and independents sharing the remainder.  The  Conservatives gained  most of the vote previously won by the Brexit Party, while Labour and  the Liberal  Democrats both lost vote share to the Greens.   Fighting illegal immigration, getting Brexit done, and supporting Britain's cultural heritage against cancel culture were winning issues for the Conservatives.

 

Hartlepool was part of Labour's "red wall" across northern England that was key to their chances of winning control of Parliament, but much of the Red Wall collapsed in the last election,  and   Hartlepool is the  latest Red Wall seat to go.  It is a sign of a major realignment in British politics  as white working   class voters flee to the  Conservatives. (Red in the UK as in most of the world  is the color of the left while blue is the color of the right)