Rishi Sunak has insisted the circumstances surrounding the Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections were “particularly challenging” after suffering a double defeat that Sir Keir Starmer said showed people were “crying out for change”.
The Prime Minister said “midterm elections are always difficult” for incumbent governments after Labour flipped Tory majorities in the tens of thousands overnight.
Gen Kitchen secured Wellingborough with 45.8 per cent of the vote, while Damien Egan won Kingswood with 44.9 per cent of the vote.
Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to a police station in Harlow, Essex, Mr Sunak said: “Midterm elections are always difficult for incumbent governments, and the circumstances of these elections were of course particularly challenging.
“Now, I think if you look at the results, very low turnout, and it shows that we’ve got work to do to show people that we are delivering on their priorities and that’s what I’m absolutely determined to do, but also shows that there isn’t a huge amount of enthusiasm for the alternative in Keir Starmer and the Labour Party, and that’s because they don’t have a plan.
“And if you don’t have a plan, you can’t deliver real change. And when the general election comes, that’s the message I’ll be making to the country. Stick with our plan, because it is starting to deliver the change that the country wants and needs.”
Related: PM suffers double blow as Labour wins Kingswood and Wellingborough by-elections