Labor won Selby and Ainsty, vacated by Nigel Adams, thanks to their biggest by-election swing in vote share away from the Conservatives since 1994.
It means 25-year-old Keir Mather is heading to the House of Commons as its youngest member. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labor leader, said the result amounted to a “cry for change”.
In Somerton and Frome, another safe seat for the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats enjoyed a huge 29 percentage point gap to the Conservatives when Sarah Dyke became the new MP.
But it was in Uxbridge, where the Conservative Steve Tuckwell defeated Danny Beales, his Labor rival, by just 495 votes, that the Conservatives were offered a glimmer of hope for the general election campaign.
The constituency is affected by the expansion of Ulez, whose outer borders will reach Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Kent and Surrey when the move comes into force next month.
Both Sir Keir and Angela Rayner, Labor’s deputy leader, blamed a backlash against Ulez for the defeat and expressed criticism. Sir Keir said he would “reflect” on the voters’ message.
But figures close to Khan, who is seeking re-election next year, made it clear that the expansion would go ahead as planned despite criticism from his party leaders.
After the by-election results, Sunak was urged by right-wing Conservatives to scrap net-zero schemes and “return to conservative politics”.
Lord Frost, the former Brexit secretary, said: “The lesson is surely that green policies are very unpopular when there is a direct cost to people, as all the polls say. This time that hit Labour, but it could soon be us unless we rethink heat pumps and the 2030 electric car deadline.”
