Sunak’s party loses 2 bypolls to Labour

London, February 16

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered two heavy blows to his leadership ahead of a general election later this year as the Opposition Labour Party overturned strong Conservative majorities to win by-elections in England on Friday.

Blames ‘low turnout’

British PM Rishi Sunak on Friday blamed “low voter turnout” as the reason for Opposition Labour Party overturning strong Conservative majorities to win byelections

Labour’s Dan Egan won the House of Commons seat of Kingswood, south-west England, and the party’s Gen Kitchen won Wellingborough, in the East Midlands region of England. The results reflect double trouble for the British Indian leader as the Conservatives had won both seats by decisive margins at the last general election under Boris Johnson in December 2019.

Another emerging trend saw the far-right Reform UK – the re-organised anti-immigration Brexit Party – coming third, ahead of the Liberal Democrats and Green Party, piling further pressure on the Conservatives on contentious issues such as migration.