Labour has slumped to another humiliating by-election defeat in a stark reversal of fortune since Sir Keir Starmer took power in Downing Street.
The party romped to victory in Wokingham’s Shinfield council ward at this year’s local elections in May, taking two out of three seats available with 43% of the vote.
But in a by-election on Friday to replace Sarah Nell, the Labour councillor who resigned after four months due to a change in her circumstances, it lost the seat with just 24.8% of the vote.
That was a decline of 18.9% in just a matter of months, in which time Labour has been hit with scandals and controversies nationally including the decision to cut winter fuel payments.
The Conservatives swept to a convincing win, with Jackie Rance taking 49% of the vote – 10% up from May’s election.
The Liberal Democrats also increased their share of the vote from 16% to 22%.
The result does not change the make-up of Wokingham council, with the Liberal Democrats still in control with 26 councillors and the Conservatives in opposition with 20. Labour has seven.
Stephen Conway, the Lib Dem leader of the council, told Wokingham Today: “This is not an entirely surprising result.
“We would have expected, in the current anti-Labour mood, for the Conservatives to win this seat.”
As well as cutting winter fuel payments for most pensioners, Labour has upset farmers by making them pay inheritance tax on agricultural land above £1million when they were previously exempt.
Sir Keir and members of his top team were also embroiled in a freebies scandal, where they took thousands of pounds of goods such as clothes from millionaire Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli.
Despite promising not to raise taxes on working people during the General Election, Labour also hiked National Insurance for employers in the Budget – with many businesses warning it will have a catastrophic impact.
Sir Keir has this week launched a Plan for Change, designed to reset his Government.
Analysis published in November showed Labour lost more than four in 10 of the council seats it defended in by-elections since the General Election.
Political analyst David Cowling, former political research editor at the BBC who conducted the analysis, said: “You would expect a governing party to take a bit of a hit after a General Election, but certainly not as immediate nor as drastic as this.”
