© Reuters. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak walks outside 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, July 19, 2023. REUTERS/Anna Gordon
By Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces voters in very different parliamentary seats on Thursday and risks losing all three contests in what could be the worst one-day mid-term result for any British ruling party in more than half a century.
The votes are one of the few remaining opportunities to gauge public support ahead of a national election expected next year, and a chance to assess whether the opposition Labor Party can turn its double-digit election run into victories.
A former finance minister and investment banker, Sunak has cultivated an image of a technocratic figure capable of solving complex policy challenges. But he failed to completely shake off his party’s past chaos.
The election is set to fill seats vacated by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned as MP last month after he was found to have misled Parliament about which parties were held in Downing Street during the coronavirus pandemic, and his ally quit in solidarity.
A third vote takes place after a member of parliament resigns over allegations of sexual harassment and cocaine use.
The results of the so-called by-elections are expected in the early hours of Friday.
If Sunak lost all three votes, it would signal that his party was in danger of losing power in the upcoming elections as members of the public express frustration with stubbornly high inflation, high taxes and economic stagnation.
The last time a ruling party lost three by-elections in one day was in 1968.
Unforgettable show
The prime minister’s popularity is at its lowest point since his appointment in October, according to a YouGov poll published on Wednesday. The poll found that about two-thirds of voters currently have a negative view of Sunak.
The betting odds are that the Conservatives will lose all three elections, although the party won large majorities in two of them in 2019.
The Conservatives won the constituency of Selby and Ainstey in the north of England by a majority of 20,137 at the last general election. Labor has said that if it wins the seat, it will be the largest majority the party has overturned in a by-election since World War Two.
In Somerton and Frome in southwest England, the opposition Liberal Democrats are hoping to overturn the 19,213 Conservative majority.
At Johnson’s former headquarters in Uxbridge and South Ruislip on the western fringes of London, Labor is seeking to overturn the Conservative Party’s majority of 7,210.
Asked if the prime minister was confident of winning the three seats, a spokeswoman for Sunak said by-elections were historically difficult for governments, and that the contest the conservatives focused on was the general election.
