Lib Dem admits delight in helping Labour defeat Tories as MP eyes general election wipeout

Daisy Cooper

Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper has admitted her delight in helping the Labour Party defeat the Conservatives after the party suffered two historic losses last night

ap
Millie Cooke

By Millie Cooke


Published: 20/10/2023

- 08:25

Updated: 20/10/2023

- 12:05

Labour took two formerly safe seats from the Conservatives overnight last night at the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections, overturning majorities of 19,000 and 24,500

Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper has admitted her delight in helping the Labour Party defeat the Conservatives after the party suffered two historic losses last night.

She boasted that the party "won the support of thousands of lifelong Conservative voters", vowing to "play an instrumental role in beating the Conservatives at the next general election".


WATCH: Conservative Chairman Greg Hands reacts to two by-election losses 

This came after Labour took two formerly safe seats from the Conservatives overnight last night at the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections, overturning majorities of 19,000 and 24,500.

But the Liberal Democrats didn't perform well, losing their deposit in Tamworth after taking just 417 votes.

They performed better in Mid Bedfordshire, coming third with 9,420 votes.

Speaking about the results, Cooper told GB News: "Clearly we are disappointed that we didn't win the Mid Bedfordshire by-election.

"We've had other stunning by-election victories in other parts of the country. But we can say we did almost double our share of the vote in Mid Bedfordshire.

"We won the support of thousands of lifelong conservative voters.

"We played an instrumental part in beating the Conservatives in Mid Bedfordshire and we hope we'll play an instrumental role in beating the Conservatives at the next general election."

Conservative Party Chairman Greg Hands told GB News the Conservative Party needs to "reflect" on the result - but noted that both by-elections were caused by "low turnout".

When asked if Labour's by-election victory will impact when the Prime Minister calls a General Election, he said: "I don't think the opposition parties did do particularly well actually.

"The Liberal Democrats, for example, did not put up a good show. Lost their deposit in Tamworth and Labour hardly improved their vote at all.

"In fact, it went down in Mid Bedfordshire slightly. But I don't think that will have an impact on the general election.

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Alistair Strathern

Labour took two formerly safe seats from the Conservatives overnight last night at the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections, overturning majorities of 19,000 and 24,500

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"Clearly, we need to recognise that a large number of our Conservative voters yesterday did not come out in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth, despite having excellent candidates.

"So we need to work harder. We need to make sure that people get the Government message that we are delivering against the five priorities, making progress and moving forward with exciting new policies as well."

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