Do by-election results in Britain matter?
Our model suggests they should not be dismissed as aberrations
Political superlatives were being thrown around like confetti on October 20th, after two by-election victories for Labour in safe Tory seats. In Mid Bedfordshire Labour set a new record for overturning the largest absolute majority in a by-election. In Tamworth the party bettered its huge by-election victory in the same town in 1996, just a year before Tony Blair’s landslide general-election win. Is history set to repeat itself?
Explore more
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Not that by the by”
Britain October 28th 2023
- The most typical place in Britain is Basildon
- Is the Windsor framework in Northern Ireland working?
- Britain must overhaul the way it approves infrastructure
- Liz Truss and Jeremy Corbyn still haunt British politics
- Do by-election results in Britain matter?
- Britain’s family-court system is overwhelmed
- The rise and fall of class dysphoria in Britain
More from Britain
Has the Royal Navy become too timid?
A new paper examines how its culture has changed
A plan to reorganise local government in England runs into opposition
Turkeys vote against Christmas
David Lammy’s plan to shake up Britain’s Foreign Office
Diplomats will be tasked with growing the economy and cutting migration
Britain’s government has spooked markets and riled businesses
Tax rises were inevitable. Such a shaky start was not
Labour’s credibility trap
Who can believe Rachel Reeves?