Labour can celebrate byelection wins, but low turnout is cause for concern

Gen Kitchen was victorious at the Wellingborough byelection, in which Labour achieved a 28.5% vote swing. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

The records continue to fall for Labour. The result in the Wellingborough byelection, in which the party achieved a 28.5 percentage-point swing from the Conservatives, was the biggest Labour victory over the Tories since 1994 and the second biggest since the war.

Along with the victory in Kingswood, the party has now made six byelection gains since 2019 – the most it has made in a single parliament. The Conservatives have lost 10 byelections in that time – the most they have ever lost in a single parliament.