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The Conservatives have suffered a major by-election defeat in Kingswood – with Labour candidate Damien Egan overcoming a Tory majority of more than 11,000 to win the seat.
Mr Egan, who stepped down as mayor of Lewisham in south-east London to contest the seat, was elected after winning 11,176 votes, beating nearest rival Tory candidate Sam Bromiley, who received 8,675 votes, by a margin of 2,501.
The victory saw a 16.4 percentage point swing in the share of the vote – much more than the 11.4 point swing required.
Behind them, Rupert Lowe, of Reform UK, received 2,578 votes, Andrew Brown, of Lib Dems, 861 votes, Lorraine Francis, of the Green Party, 1,450 votes and Nicholas Wood, of UKIP, 129 votes.
Yet turn-out was low with just 37.1 per cent of the electorate voting.
It is another blow for Rishi Sunak ahead of this year’s general election, and comes just hours after news the UK economy fell into recession, undermining the prime minister’s promise to kickstart growth.
Meanwhile, Labour can look to strengthen it’s hold on the Bristol region with the party already holding seats in Bristol North West, Bristol South and Bristol West.
However, the seat will only be in place for less than a year with it to be broken into five wards under planned boundary changes. Mr Egan will be standing for Labour for the new Bristol North East seat.
Cork-born Mr Egan grew up in Kingswood and served as a local parish councillor, before moving to London aged 21. He had been mayor of Lewisham since 2018, and in Janaury stepped down to become a candidate for Kingswood.
His priorities include improving access to NHS services, better policing and supporting people through the cost-of-living crisis.
And he’s had good support, with Sir Keir Starmer among the party figures to visit with help in campaignin.
Among those in the Tory party assessing the results will be Jacob Rees Mogg, whose new constituency at the next election, North East Somerset and Hanham, will be taking in some of the ward.
