Rayner: “Historic” Chester victory shows Sunak has “failed” his first electoral test

Angela Rayner has argued that Labour’s “historic” victory over the Conservatives in the City of Chester by-election shows that Rishi Sunak has “failed” his first electoral test since becoming Prime Minister.

Commenting this morning, after an 11.6-point increase in the party’s vote share in 2019 handed Labour’s Sam Dixon 61.2% of the vote and a 10,974-vote majority, the deputy leader said it shows that people “want a Labour government”.

“They are angry with the Conservatives who have crashed the economy, for the sleaze that has engulfed them, for the constant bickering and not being able to get Britain moving again,” Rayner said.

Labour had been expected to retain the seat in the by-election, which was triggered by the resignation of Chris Matheson after the parliamentary watchdog recommended he be suspended for “serious sexual misconduct”. Rayner said the voters have “given a big message to the Conservatives that they want change”.

Labour won the parliamentary constituency from the Conservatives in 1997, holding the seat until 2010. The City of Chester has returned a Labour MP since 2015, when Labour won by a margin of just 93 votes. Labour’s Chris Matheson held the seat in 2017 with a majority of 9,176 and in 2019 with a majority of 6,164.

Labour has enjoyed months of positive polling results. The by-election followed the resignation of Boris Johnson, a Tory leadership campaign followed by the selection and resignation of Liz Truss, and the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister.

LabourList interviewed Dixon ahead of the vote. She described the by-election as a “poll of polls on Rishi Sunak and the chaos that we’ve seen over the summer” and said voters “need to send a really clear message to the Conservative government”.

Pollster John Curtice told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Labour is “in a stronger position than they have been at any point in the last 12 years”. He said the result, if replicated across the country at a general election, would deliver a Labour government but “wouldn’t produce an enormous majority”.

“Rishi Sunak is being reminded by the voters of Chester he has quite a lot of work to do,” he added.

Dixon described the win as a “resounding mandate” for Labour, and said that the Conservatives “no longer have a mandate to govern”. There were a record nine parties standing candidates in the by-election: Labour, Lib Dem, Tory, Green, Rejoin EU, Reform UK, Freedom Alliance, UKIP and the Monster Raving Loony Party.

City of Chester

LAB: 61.2% (+11.6)
CON: 22.4% (-15.9)
LDEM: 8.4% (+1.5)
GRN: 2.8% (+0.1)
REF: 2.7% (+0.2)
REU: 1.0% (+1.0)
UKIP: 0.6% (+0.6)
MRLP: 0.6% (+0.6)
FA: 0.3% (+0.3)

Turnout: 41.2%
Lab HOLD