00:00 Ashish Sunak's government was bracing for a triple blow, but in the end it was a double
00:04 whammy.
00:06 Britain held three by-elections on Thursday, all in districts previously held by Conservatives.
00:11 The by-elections are special votes held when a House of Commons seat becomes vacant between
00:16 elections.
00:17 And the Conservative government feared that voters would turn their backs on them amidst
00:21 high inflation and interest rates.
00:23 The good news for Tories?
00:25 They managed by a very slim margin of under 500 votes to hold onto Boris Johnson's former
00:31 seat.
00:32 It's a saving grace of sorts for the majority.
00:35 Tuckwell Stephen, commonly known as Steve Tuckwell, the Conservative Party candidate,
00:40 13,960 votes.
00:44 Otherwise though, the night was a celebratory one for the left and the centre.
00:48 In Somerton and Frome, Conservatives had their worst night in the history of the seat.
00:53 It's the Liberal Democrats that won by more than 11,000 votes.
00:57 Sarah Joanne Dyke has been duly elected as the Member of Parliament for the Somerton
01:03 and Frome constituency.
01:05 For Labour, it's their candidate, a 25-year-old, Keir Mather, who has now been elected to
01:10 represent Selby and Ainslie.
01:11 He'll be the youngest member of the House of Commons in an MP seat that was once a safe
01:16 bet for Conservatives.
01:19 Conservatives had a 20,000 vote majority there, but on Thursday the Labour candidate
01:23 won by over 4,000 votes.
01:26 We have rewritten the rules on where Labour can win.
01:30 People have opened their doors to us and embraced our positive vision for the future.
01:34 It is the biggest ever vote swing against the Tories in a by-election.
01:38 In a statement, Labour leader Keir Starmer hailed the win as historic, as he and his
01:43 party look to next year's general elections.
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