Though neither are natural Lib Dem seats the party doubled its vote share in Copeland and more than doubled it in Stoke Central (seemingly doing especially well among students; a reminder that Labour too needs to watch out).
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Yet Labour only makes sense as a party if a popular majority believes that, despite their different experiences and values, they share a powerful common interest in how the nation is run.
Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Government of planning to use the British people as “bargaining chips” in an effort to attract overseas companies to the United Kingdom after Brexit. The UKIP campaign was riddled with problems – Mr. Nuttall himself was involved in several controversies: first over the validity of his home address in Stoke registered for the election, and second over comments that he made about having lost “close personal friends” in a 1989 disaster, where 96 Liverpool fans were killed. And the referendum result has left Brexit boosters UKIP struggling to find a new raison d’être.
Labours Gillian Troughton was beaten in the Copeland by-election by Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison, despite Labour holding the seat since 1935. The Tories came third with 5,154 votes.
He said Mr Corbyn needed to show that he understood how to “turn things around and deliver” – because ordinary people needed a Labour government now.
Other key issues in the largely rural constituency include healthcare, transport and infrastructure.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has since said he is not resigning after the defeat-but there will be increased pressure on him to go.
Both Mr Corbyn and Mr Watson called the Copeland result “disappointing”. Stoke was an archetypal Leave constituency, the “Brexit capital of Britain”.
She said: “David Miliband has said tonight that Labour is in the weakest position that its has been in for 50 years it doesn’t get much more damming than that”.
He added that defeat proved Corbyn was “simply not acceptable to a large number of people who would normally vote Labour”, according to the Evening Standard. The centrist Liberal Democrats are optimistic about a comeback after winning a unexpected by-election in December, but have a mountain to climb after being almost wiped out in 2015’s general election.
Neil Coyle, a centrist Labour MP, said the 7 per cent swing away from his party should be a wake-up call.
UKIP also came in fourth in Copeland – results that will raise questions about Nuttall’s leadership, and the ability of his party to continue as a genuine threat to its more established rivals. What’s more, the Tory leader told the assembled crowd, a ruling party hadn’t taken a seat from the opposition in a byelection for 35 years.
But while Labour celebrated fending off UKIP’s bid to replace them in their traditional post-industrial heartlands, the historic loss elsewhere of a seat to the Conservatives was a big blow to their prospects in the 2020 general election.
“All sections of the party, from the Leader to elected office holders and the members, need to listen to those doubts and learn from them”.
Stoke is thus not the end of UKIP, but it has thrown into stark relief the hard position the party finds itself in. The opportunity to wipe out Labour under Corbyn and secure an electoral mandate for May and for hard Brexit has its appeal for Downing Street.
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And why the leader of an opposition party which is haemorrhaging support will stay in his job, but a man who masterminded the most unlikely triumph in modern football is now looking for a new one.
