For the first time in decades, the Labor Conservative Party has stolen the House of Commons mandate in the northeastern English city of Hartlepool.

For the first time in decades, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party stole the House of Commons mandate from Labor in the northeastern English city of Hartlepool. In a by-election, Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer received the most votes, the Election Commission announced Friday morning. The result in Labour’s home country is a huge success for the Conservatives, who continue to register there through the Brexit cycle.

“This is a historic result,” said Amanda Melling, Conservative deputy chairwoman, in the first reaction. For Labor leader Keir Starmer, who has been in office for more than a year, the defeat represents a major setback. The by-election has no direct effect on the balance of power in London because the Conservatives in the House of Commons already have a comfortable majority.

Hartlepool was still in the hands of the opposition even in Labour’s historic defeat in the December 2019 general election, in which the Conservative Party seized dozens of red bastions. The by-election became necessary because incumbent Representative Mike Hill was forced to resign after allegations of sexual assault.

Both Johnson and Starmer traveled to the North Sea city with about 92,000 residents several times during the election campaign. It is also part of the stronghold of the European Union’s opponents. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, nearly 70 percent of Hartlepool voters voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. Johnson was the spokesman for opponents of the European Union and later pushed through Brexit as head of government against massive domestic political resistance.

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