Hartlepool by elections-humiliating defeat for Labour Party

 Labour Party lost this constituency for the first time  since 1974

The victory of Conservatives in Hartlepool by elections is a shocking news for Labour Party supporters. The Labour Party never lost this seat since it was created in 1974. But under the leadership of Keir Starmer Labour Party suffered a humiliating defeat in one of its strongholds. 

The Hartlepool constituency was formed in 1974 and had returned a Labour MP in every vote since - until Thursday's poll.Conservative Ms Mortimer won with 15,529 votes, while Labour's Mr Williams received 8,589. Labour Party won this seat under Corbyn twice in 2017 and then 2019. 

Labour Party lost this seat by a wide margin of nearly 7,000 votes.This by election loss is a big setback for Labour Party which is already struggling to win back many traditional voters in North England.  Keir Starmer was hoping to increase the support of party on a centrist policies and politics.

The Labour Party also trailing behind the Tories in the latest national surveys. The Conservatives have extended their lead to 9 points. The Right wing of Labour was claiming that Starmer has the capacity and ability to defeat Tories in next general elections. But Labour Party continue to trail since his take over as leader. 

Labour's loss of Hartlepool in a by-election is the most dramatic illustration yet that the party has so far failed to connect with the Leave-supporting, working class voters they lost heavily in 2017 and 2019. Support for the Brexit Party, which registered 26% in Hartlepool in 2019, collapsed - the successor Reform party secured just 1% of the vote.

It looks as though the Conservatives picked up the Brexit Party's former support, in line with the proportion of Leave voters preferring the Conservatives to Labour to the order of 3/4 to 1. However, the swing to the Conservatives of 16% is more than can be accounted for by the collapse of the Brexit Party.

 

Labour's vote fell 9 points to 29%, so the party clearly lost some of its 2019 support, as well as suffering from the movement of Brexit Party voters to the Conservatives. Part of the explanation may lie in the success of independent candidate, Sam Lee, who won 10% of the vote.

Together with the pattern in key wards there is clearly a debate about whether Labour can win support from Leave voters by ignoring Brexit as it has in the past 12 months. The working class leave voters have ditched Labour Party and went over to Tories.  

 But on the contrary, it continue to lose support as left leaning and progressive voters have already left the party. The party 

The right wing of the party was attacking Jeremy Corbyn for being radical and thus unelectable. He was attacked as being socialist and radical  But Starmer proves to be more unelectable then former leader  Jeremy Corbyn.

But  Starmer  supporters continue to accuse Jeremy Corbyn for their own failures. They are saying the Hartlepool defeat, which saw a 16% swing from Labour to the Conservatives, means the party has not changed enough under his leadership. They wants party to move further to the right.

They have failed to understand that  Labour Party defeat is the result of right wing turn of the party under Starmer leadership. Thousands of members have already left the party. Labour Party not only facing a political crisis but also a financial crisis. 

 The Corbyn leadership revived the party as more than half million people joined Labour Party. Labour increased its vote bank in 2017 elections. But right wing neoliberal faction of the Labour Party conspired against Corbyn and joined hands with right wing establishment and media to defeat Corbyn in 2019 general elections. 

Left Labour MP Ms Sultana tweeted after the result, "It seems this needs saying: Labour did actually win Hartlepool in 2017 and 2019. Last night, devastatingly we were almost *25 points* down compared to 2017. To inspire change, we need a hopeful vision for Britain, promising to build a country for the 99%, not the 1%".

Diane Abbott, another labour MP and leading Corbyn supporter  tweeted "Crushing defeat for Labour in Hartlepool. Not possible to blame Jeremy Corbyn for this result. Labour won the seat twice under his leadership. Keir Starmer must think again about his strategy."

The left-wing Momentum group, which backed Mr Corbyn, said: "Starmer's strategy of isolating the left and replacing meaningful policy with empty buzzwords has comprehensively failed."

                                                                     Khalid Bhatti