Keith Prince was re-elected as London Assembly member for Havering and Redbridge.
- Credit: Michael Cox
Keith Prince has spoken of his delight at being re-elected to the London Assembly for Havering and Redbridge - and agreed with his Labour counterpart that the UKIP vote from 2016 had been vital.
The Conservative politician received 77,268 votes, more than 15,000 ahead of Labour s Judith Garfield, who came second.
Mr Prince s majority represented a marked increase on the 2016 election, when he defeated then-Labour candidate Ivana Bartoletti by around 1,400 votes.
He said this year s victory was testament to the government s handling of the Covid-19 crisis and the efforts of his campaign team.
These North East Labour constituencies could turn Tory at the next general election
Our analysis of voting trends following last week s Hartlepool byelection result show seven seats held by Labour are at risk
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The Conservative party could take 18 of the 29 constituencies in the North East at the next general election, we can reveal.
Hartlepool by-election result LIVE: Conservatives win seat from Labour by huge margin
The results for the Hartlepool by-election are expected in the early hours of the morning
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The votes are being counted after Teessiders went to the polls in the biggest set of elections outside the General Election. The people of Hartlepool have chosen their new MP, after Labour s Mike Hill stepped down amid an ongoing investigation.
The by-election has attracted national attention, with Labour leader Keir Starmer under pressure as Boris Johnson s Conservative government has been tipped to win the seat for the first time since it was created.
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So where does Labour go now? Make no mistake, losing Hartlepool so badly is a body blow to the party.
It doesn t really matter that they could have lost it in 2019, had the Brexit Party not ignored its pact with the Conservatives, given in to hubris and went full pelt to try and catapult its chairman Richard Tice into Parliament.
Something big needs to change if Starmer is ever going to succeed
Unless and until the Labour leader changes something big, the losses will keep piling up for his party
7 May 2021 • 7:56am
Even before it was announced that the Conservatives had won Hartlepool with a 16 per cent swing, Labour was busy conceding defeat and promising that things would change as a result of its humiliation in the north east seat.
“The message from voters is clear and we have heard it,” said a spokesman. “Labour has not yet changed nearly enough for voters to place their trust in us. We understand that. We are listening. And we will now redouble our efforts.”