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23/05/2008
Labour Suffers As Tories Win By-Election
The Labour Party has suffered a blistering defeat in the latest by-election win by The Conservatives.
The Tories have seized a former safe Labour seat by almost 8,000 votes in Crewe and Nantwich.
Tory MP Edward Timpson won 7,860 more votes than his Labour rival documenting a 17.6% swing.
The contest followed the death of Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody who had represented the former Labour stronghold since the seat was first created in 1983.
Tory leader David Cameron says it was a "remarkable result" and one that marks the "end of New Labour".
He said that the results show that the Conservatives are building "a real coalition for change…not just including people who used to support the Conservative Party and who are now coming back, but including many people who have never voted Conservative before".
"Their campaign [Labour] didn't tell us much about the Conservative Party – but it told us a lot about the Labour Party. It was backward-looking, divisive and xenophobic," he said.
Mr Cameron has also promised to repay the trust people are putting in the Party by using the next months to show how he will "bring the changes that people want to see in the country".
Mr Timpson, 34, said that the government had "paid the price" for scrapping the 10p rate of income tax.
"Gordon Brown just does not get it and the government needs to change," he said.
Labour deputy Harriet Harman says that it is a "bad result" for the party and attributed to people's fears for the economy.
She added that her Party were "determined to listen" after the election loss and that "the overwhelming majority of people in the Labour Party…are fully behind Gordon Brown".
Labour candidate and daughter of the late Mrs Dunwoody, Tamsin Dunwoody, came second in the contest with 12,679 and Liberal Democrat, Elizabeth Shenton came third on 6,040.
Ms Dunwoody said: "The Labour Party in adversity and in the good times, holds strong and stays united. We will continue to fight."
The Tories last by-election win was in Mitcham and Morden, south west London in 1982.
(DS)
The Tories have seized a former safe Labour seat by almost 8,000 votes in Crewe and Nantwich.
Tory MP Edward Timpson won 7,860 more votes than his Labour rival documenting a 17.6% swing.
The contest followed the death of Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody who had represented the former Labour stronghold since the seat was first created in 1983.
Tory leader David Cameron says it was a "remarkable result" and one that marks the "end of New Labour".
He said that the results show that the Conservatives are building "a real coalition for change…not just including people who used to support the Conservative Party and who are now coming back, but including many people who have never voted Conservative before".
"Their campaign [Labour] didn't tell us much about the Conservative Party – but it told us a lot about the Labour Party. It was backward-looking, divisive and xenophobic," he said.
Mr Cameron has also promised to repay the trust people are putting in the Party by using the next months to show how he will "bring the changes that people want to see in the country".
Mr Timpson, 34, said that the government had "paid the price" for scrapping the 10p rate of income tax.
"Gordon Brown just does not get it and the government needs to change," he said.
Labour deputy Harriet Harman says that it is a "bad result" for the party and attributed to people's fears for the economy.
She added that her Party were "determined to listen" after the election loss and that "the overwhelming majority of people in the Labour Party…are fully behind Gordon Brown".
Labour candidate and daughter of the late Mrs Dunwoody, Tamsin Dunwoody, came second in the contest with 12,679 and Liberal Democrat, Elizabeth Shenton came third on 6,040.
Ms Dunwoody said: "The Labour Party in adversity and in the good times, holds strong and stays united. We will continue to fight."
The Tories last by-election win was in Mitcham and Morden, south west London in 1982.
(DS)
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