the liberal democrats, the nature of them, they are not a party, with respect, with any kind of strong idealogical moorings, that makes them a very potent by election force they can stand for one thing in one town and a different thing in the town next door. now, that s not the case for us, we re a party of government, we seek to run the whole country and form a government. after this contest in what was such safe tory territory, the political ground here has shifted overnight. jonathan blake, bbc news, north shropshire. let s talk to the political editor for bbc midlands elizabeth glinka who is in 0swestry. she has been following this throughout, of course. so, just your assessment of the nature of this liberal democrat victory.- liberal democrat victory. yes, i think peeple liberal democrat victory. yes, i think people here liberal democrat victory. yes, i think people here north - liberal democrat victory. yes, i - think people here north shropshire had almost taken themselv
and convenient. 60 million people have been boosted so go and get your shot today. go and get roosted if you have had your first two shots, if not, go have your first shot. that meant go and get boosted. in the uk, counting is underway in the north shropshire by election in what s being seen as another big test of prime minister boris johnson s leadership. voters are electing a new mp following the resignation of owen paterson, who resigned in the wake of a huge row over his conduct, after he was found to have broken lobbying rules. the conservatives have held this seat for almost 200 years, but any defeat is likely to intensify questions over borisjohnson s leadership. joining me now from the election count in the nearby town of shrewsbury is our correspondent elizabeth glinka. great to have you on the programme again. when we last spoke you said that counting
let s go back to the north shropshire by election. we are expecting a declaration soon. let s cross live now to the political editor for the region, elizabeth glinka, who s at the north shropshire count. what is the latest? we are hoinu what is the latest? we are heping to what is the latest? we are hoping to have what is the latest? we are hoping to have that - what is the latest? we are hoping to have that official declaration in the next half an hour to an hour, we don t have that fully confirmed at the moment, but counting is still ongoing. but what we do know is that the liberal democrats believe they have won this seat. they are confident they i wanted, notjust buy a little bit. they say they have wanted comfortably. to put this into context, this is a huge result, historic result in shropshire. this seat has been conservative for almost 200 years. they have never had an mp from any other party here. this is an major results, and
sidcup, and bexley. a decent turnout for a by election, and yes, that result we think we will get within the next hour, a historic victory for the liberal democrats here in north shropshire. remember, they have overturned a conservative majority of almost 23,000. qm. majority of almost 23,000. 0k, elizabeth at majority of almost 23,000. 0k, elizabeth at the majority of almost 23,000. ok, elizabeth at the north shropshire count, thank you very much. with me now is lewis goodall who covers politics and policy for bbc newsnight. we are talking about this be liberal democrats wind. can you explain for our viewers around the world what this means for prime minister borisjohnson prime minister boris johnson and prime minister borisjohnson and his conservative party. let s not undersell this. this is, as elizabeth was saying, a truly historic result. people might not be familiar, even the united kingdom, with north shropshire, shame on them, but if they are not, this is a seed that has be
it follows the resignation of tory mp owen paterson, who was found to have breached parliamentary rules on lobbying. he won the last election in 2019 with a majority of nearly 23,000. but the lib dems helen morgan took the seat by almost 6,000 votes making it the seventh biggest by election swing in modern political history. 0ur regional political editor for the midlands elizabeth glinka looks back at the night cheering and applause tonight, north shropshire have spoken on behalf of the british people, they have said loudly and clearly, borisjohnson, the party is over. your government run on lies and bluster will be held accountable. it will be scrutinised. it will be challenged. and it can and will be defeated. a historic victory for the liberal democrats, overturning a tory majority of nearly 23,000, a swing even bigger than the one that won chesham and amersham.