Where Are Labour This Morning?

[lankeela]

Licking their wounds? Maybe voters are just as fed up with their constant sniping at the government yet not offering a viable solution to current problems.

[QuizmasterG]

labour..............probably looking for another fence to sit on, assuming there are any left after the storms!

[davebro]

self-isolating?

[douglas9401]

They may be setting up a diversion somewhere but now they can use this one.

[anneasquith]

Having a party ?

[Khandro]

'Looking at the results themselves, it is clear how the defeat was inflicted. Turnout was down by over twenty per cent; the vast majority of whom appear to have been Conservative voters. Their apathy is unsurprising given the constant drip of negative press ever since the Owen Paterson affair needlessly triggered this by-election in the first place. The temporary withdrawal of support is more a shot across the bows that voters are unhappy with recent conduct, than a sudden affinity for the non-descript political presence of the Liberal Democrats. A position that should be eminently recoverable for the Prime Minister.

However, analysis of the results compared to those from 2019 makes for interesting reading. Labour saw their vote share in the constituency collapse by over seventy per cent, most of which quite probably went into bolstering the Lib Dem vote. Assuming those on the Left motivated by a Conservative defeat maximised their turnout, it is quite feasible that the number of “lifelong Tories switching their vote to the Lib Dems” was somewhere around 3,500. That figure has a far smaller impact than the absence of voters altogether.'

[ichkeria]

Spinning this into a disaster for the Labour Party is as desperate as it gets.
Akin perhaps to the Downing Street redecoration job :-)

[anneasquith]

True Ich .

[TheChair]

Tories lose a seat they've held for almost 200 years and your first thought is " are Labour licking their wounds?". At least you've helped me start my day with a laugh.

[Paul22118]

This is classic response to a conservative voter who is annoyed at their party and wants to demonstrate that annoyance, in a by election. No great harm done by voting for lib dems but significantly not voting for labour. That or as seems likely, staying at home. No sleep lost for Boris - yet.

[naomi24]

//Spinning this into a disaster for the Labour Party is as desperate as it gets. //

But it is a disaster for Labour. If everyone is as fed up with Boris and the government as we're led to believe, Labour has missed an open goal by a mile.... hasn't it?

[johnny.5]

waiting for Ed to regain the reins

[jim360]

Not really. It's a classic protest vote, and the LibDems have always been great at exploiting this.

[TheChair]

"Labour has missed an open goal by a mile.... hasn't it?" There speaks a woman who's never grasped the concept of tactical voting.

[Bobbisox1]

Boris is tired , he’s had more thrown at him in just two years than any PM since WW2, and now he’s making mistakes by backing those in his party that should of been sacked, I really think it’s time for a new leader but not in the way the Boris bashers on here think, we need fresh blood and a clean sweep , only then will the Tory’s be a reputable party again, Labour had died , the LibDems get used as a protest vote , The conservatives will rise again , make no mistake about that, perhaps with Rishi Sunak leading them

[gulliver1]

Naomi @11.07 "Disaster for Labour" Take your blinkers off dear and refrain from attending those Radicalisation classes . This is a Disaster for The Tories..

[Mozz71]

I was under the impression that Labour were never really in the running to win North Shropshire and everyone was saying it was a two horse Tory/Lib Dem race.

Nice try by the OP trying to disguise a 29k swing from Tory to Lib Dem as a Labour disaster though.

[Bobbisox1]

In fact I’ve just done my hair a lovely shade of blue this morning :0)

[Khandro]

Gulliver //This is a Disaster for The Tories..//

but not as bad as the Labour vote collapse -- Over 70% !!!
I don't think you can draw much comfort from the Tory defeat

[naomi24]

/There speaks a woman who's never grasped the concept of tactical voting//

And there speaks a man who doesn't understand what he's reading so I'll explain further. In light of all the criticism the government comes in for, yes, the electorate have submitted a protest vote - but at the same time they've made it crystal clear that they really - really - don't want Labour.

[dannyk13]

Mozz, it was a disaster for both the Tories and Labour in relation to lost votes.