Labour can say that it is a protest against the incumbent government which is perpetual and valid,the tories cannot hide behind being in government what is their excuse?
I get where you are coming from on this but there definitely seems to be a sense amongst the conventional political class that this election went far beyond the norm.
Oddly enough, it is not Runcorn, in and of itself. A classic by-election upset. With the smallest of fractions of a win.
But rather these results have them worried about what happens in the future...
1. 2025 Greater Lincolnshire mayoral election - Angela Jenkyns - Her vote was bigger than the combined Labour and Conservative votes.
2. Durham. Labour lose 36 seats. Tories lose 15. Reform win 65. From a standing start.
3. West Country Mayoral contest. Arron Banks making it much closer than anybody had predicted. And exposing the Green/Labour split.
This last one in particular has caused some head scratching. Now of course, many on the Left would clambour for a Labour/Green tie up but given the noises being made about Net-Zero being given the old heave-ho, then almost certainly a non-starter.
Still trying to find an analysis of the impact of the postal-vote because Labour have an impressive machine for harvesting those with the Tories not shabby either so even with that, they still get their joint arses handed to them.
Of the two major parties I would be more worried if I were the Tories for a whole raft of reasons. Labour still have well over 3 years to salvage this. But the Tories are literally on their knees after what happened to them in the 2024 GE. And Kemi definitely ain't got what it takes. Plus they have not got the Farage glove-puppet to berate their supporters with where as Labour can literally get away with anything and still have the usual soc.lib suspects turn out for them because of the viseral hatred they have for Farage.