Labour has retained the West Lancashire constituency in a byelection called after its MP, Rosie Cooper, resigned last autumn. Ashley Dalton, a part-time charity worker, won with 14,068 votes, marking Labour’s third byelection victory since Rishi Sunak became prime minister. The Conservative candidate, Mike Prendergast, followed in second place with 5,742 votes. Dalton’s comfortable win marked a 10-point swing to Labour. Dalton told the Conservatives to “move out of the way”, telling Sunak it was time for Labour to take over as she demanded a general election. Dalton said: “Tonight the people of West Lancashire constituency have spoken on behalf of the country. They’ve sent a message to this Conservative government: they do not have confidence in them to govern or the prime minister to lead.
“Prime minister, your government has no ideas or a plan to address the big issues facing our country, like record levels of child poverty and people dying waiting for ambulances. The people of Lancashire have put their trust in Keir Starmer’s Labour. We’ve provided hope, a hope that we can build a better Britain, which means a better Lancashire. “These are testing times for our country, I have had hundreds of conversations with voters and I know how hard life has become and the unthinkable choices people are having to face. I have a plan to make West Lancashire a better place to live, work and grow old in.” The Labour leader sent his congratulations to Dalton, with Starmer tweeting: “The message from West Lancashire today is clear – after 13 years of Tory decline, it’s time for a Labour government.” Labour had been hopeful of winning the byelection comfortably, given its performance at the local elections in May and its retaking of a “red wall” seat – Wakefield – the following month. Cooper had held the seat since 2005 with an 8,000-strong majority in 2019. The 72-year-old announced her resignation in order to take up the job as chair of Mersey Care NHS foundation trust.
The decision came a few years after she was targeted as part of a murder plot by members of a banned neo-Nazi group. Cooper said she had undergone a “considerable period of soul-searching” and said the events had “taken their toll”. Dalton has worked in grassroots activism for 30 years and before starting her campaign worked part-time for a Lancashire charity. She first became aware of the Labour party when working in her father’s florist shop aged 14, when someone placed an order for 40 red rose buttonholes before a byelection count. She joined the party as a university student. West Lancashire includes Skelmersdale, Ormskirk, Burscough and a cluster of smaller towns and villages. The constituency was created as the successor to Ormskirk before the 1983 general election. Labour said the result was the worst for the Conservatives in West Lancashire since the constituency was created. It has been Labour-held since 1992, when Colin Pickthall was voted in to replace the Conservatives’ Ken Hind.
Turnout on Thursday was low at just 31.3%, against 72% in the 2019 general election. It is the first time the Tory vote has dipped below 30% since the 1997 vote, which Tony Blair’s Labour party won by a landslide. Reform UK secured 997 votes, ahead of the Liberal Democrats on 918, the Greens with 646 and the Official Monster Raving Loony party with 210. It is the fifth byelection Labour has won since the 2019 general election.