Main events
Voter turnout in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Boris Johnson’s former West London constituency, was 46.23%, according to Britain Elects – 17.3% lower than in 2019.
Uxbridge and South Ruislip, turnout:
46.23% (-17.3)
31,000 votes– Britain elects (@BritainElects) July 20, 2023
Dispatch from Selby count
Helen Pidd
We’re two hours into the countdown in the glamorous surroundings of Selby Leisure Center and no one seems confident of victory. I’ve been through a lot over the years and even this early at night you can tell if this landslide is going to happen. Party activists tried to hide poker faces but they couldn’t hide their joy when it looked like they were going to win. There’s still no grossly suppressed joy on show here. There were only nervous faces as the ballot verification continued.
A local Labor source who was present the last time a Labor candidate won Selby – John Grogan, who took 467 votes in 2005, only lost in 2010 after boundary changes – said: “It’s hard to say but it’s ok.”
The Guardian’s North of England editor, Helen Pidd, is in the Selby count. More from him in a moment – but he says neither the Tories nor Labor seem confident yet.
Despite Labor needing to win Selby by more than 20,000 – which is the biggest number Labor has turned over in the party’s history, according to number-crunchers at poll aggregator Britain Elects – some commentators are confident they have done so.
Yorkshire Party Deputy Chair David Herdson, formerly a Conservative, said Labor would “win comfortably”.
👇 David Herdson, long-time activist, former Conservative and now of the Yorkshire Party and a man who generally knows what he’s talking about. It could be Labour’s all time best ever by-elex performance if he is right. https://t.co/4qhD50Pml1
– Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) July 20, 2023
RE Selby, remember this: 20,000 is the majority. Overturning that would be a record for Labour. Unless someone can teach me otherwise, I believe this is the biggest reverse *by Labour* has ever been in the history of the party, electorally or not.
— Ben Walker (@BNHWalker) July 20, 2023
Countdown begins in Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Mabel Banfield-Nwachi
In Boris Johnson’s former West London constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, candidates are waiting with bated breath as all the ballot boxes are in and the counting begins.
There are 17 hopefuls running, many focusing their campaign on London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to extend the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ).
Despite the number of candidates, many expect the race to go to Labor or the Conservatives, who have held the seat since the creation of the boundary.
Conservative candidate Steve Tuckwell hopes to retain the seat, having won more than 7,200 votes in 2019. He called the by-election a “referendum on ULEZ”.
The Hillingdon councilor admitted that many residents of the constituency who rely on cars will be out of pocket if the ULEZ goes ahead.
Former charity worker, Danny Beales is running for Labour. Born in Hillingdon Hospital, the Camden councilor emphasized his local roots and wanted to win over people with his promises to improve the hospital and put more money in the pockets of local people.
What is at stake?
There are three seats up for grabs. If the Conservatives lose all three, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could become the first prime minister since Harold Wilson in 1968 to lose a trio of byelections in one day.
Here are the seats:
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Uxbridge and South Ruislip, on the edge of London: Boris Johnson’s seat. Labor is the favorite to win. The Tory majority in 2019 was just 7,210 votes.
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Selby and Ainsty, in Yorkshire in the north of England: Labor must beat the Tories by more than 20,000 votes here. According to Britain Elects, this is the biggest number ever reversed by Labor in the party’s history.
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Somerton and Frome, southwest England. The Liberal Democrats are so confident of their victory that they declared it tonight two hours after the polls closed. That is not an official declaration. The 2019 Tory majority was 19,213 votes.
When will we know the results?
Hello, this is it Helen Sullivan joins you for our rolling coverage of the UK byelection.
The LibDems have already declared victory in Somerton and Frome, but this is not an official result – only, to use their words “strong confidence”.
It’s now midnight in the UK – this is when we can have the final results:
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2am BST or later for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
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3-4am BST for Somerton and Frome
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3-6am BST for Selby and Ainsty
Stay tuned as we take the stakes, votes and the best commentary and analysis.
You can find me on Twitter @helenrsullivan – send me questions, charts, pictures of your dogs outside polling stations and anything else you think our readers might find interesting.
The turnout in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election was 46.23%, PA reports.
Lib Dems claim they have won the Somerton and Frome byelection
The Liberal Democrats have claimed victory in the Somerton and Frome byelection.
The official result is not expected to be declared for several hours.
A Lib Dem spokesman said: “Not only did we win, we romped home in Somerton and Frome.
“The Conservative vote is in free-fall.”
Helen Pidd
Bill Esterton, Labor MP for Sefton Central in Merseyside, also reported a positive response at Selby’s door today, although stopped short of predicting a Tory defeat.
He tweeted: “I’ve met a lot of lifelong Tory voters who voted Labor in Selby today. Whether that’s enough for us to win, I don’t know, but it points to a close result in a constituency we’ve never won before. Good luck
@Mather_Keir.”
A confident tweet from Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.
Davey launched the party’s election campaign by riding a tractor in Berkhamsted as it crushed a stack of Tory blue hay bales.
I think we need a bigger tractor. 🚜
– Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) July 20, 2023
Work seat Anneliese Dodds scaled back expectations after the polls closed, calling them an “incredibly challenging election” for the party.
He told BBC Newsnight: “Whatever the outcome is one thing is very clear, and it’s clear to me when I’m talking to people on the door, that there are people in this election who are going to vote Labor for the first time.
“They see Keir Starmer turning the Labor Party upside down, that the Labor party is at the service of working people.
“And I think that’s what’s going to happen no matter what the outcome of these byelections is.”
