Tories lose North Shropshire seat they held for nearly 200 years https://t.co/b2r5Iwd2f2
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 17, 2021
The North Shropshire byelection is a telling off to Boris Johnson. He has been given the responsibility of leading the country at a time of trial and he is doing a bad job of leading.
46% of voters turned out on a day that recorded more new positive cases of Covid than ever before.
North Shropshire, parliamentary by-election result:
LDEM: 47.2% (+37.2)
CON: 31.6% (-31.1)
LAB: 9.7% (-12.4)
GRN: 4.6% (+1.4)
REFUK: 3.8% (+3.8)LDem GAIN from Con.
— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) December 17, 2021
The Liberal swing is even greater than that at Chesham and Amersham and this time the Prime Minister cannot brush the result off as a result of local issues.
The Liberals fought the campaign on national as well as local issues and Helen Morgan’s acceptance speech, though scripted , made it clear what she thought of Boris Johnson’s antics.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey tweeted from self-isolation
Millions of people are fed up with Boris Johnson and his failure to provide leadership throughout the pandemic and last night the voters of North Shropshire spoke for all of them.
Congratulations @HelenHalcrow, you will make a wonderful MP for your community. pic.twitter.com/KJRsEuxMxK
— Ed Davey MP 🔶🇪🇺 (@EdwardJDavey) December 17, 2021
Helen Morgan is a parish councillor who had recently lost an election to be a Shropshire County Councillor. She stood in the 2019 general election in the same seat but won just 5,643 votes – 10% of the total. This time round, she took 17,957 votes – more than 47% of the. For a few hours she will be a famous politician and for a few years an MP.
No doubt she will struggle to retain her seat at a general election, such is the nature of things. But right now she should be congratulated in mobilising the electorate in a way that the Labour party couldn’t.
