New Labour MP tells Wellingborough voters she wants 'to do you proud' after historic victory

The country's newest MP has told her constituents she hoped to "do you proud" as she celebrated the second biggest vote swing to Labour since the Second World War.

Gen Kitchen triumphed by more than 6,000 votes in the Wellingborough vote, overcoming a majority of 18,540 in the Northamptonshire seat.

Addressing a crowd of supporters in Wellingborough, she said her victory had not quite sunk in, but described it as a "decisive stunning victory for the Labour Party".

"Thank you very much Wellingborough - I hope to do you proud," she said.

Labour won the seat on a swing in the share of the vote of 28.5% – the second largest swing from Conservative to Labour at a by-election since the Second World War.

It was just short of the largest post-war by-election swing from Tory to Labour, which was 29.1% at the Dudley West by-election in December 1994.

The swing Labour needed to win the seat was 17.9% – the equivalent of a net change of 18 in every 100 people who voted Conservative in 2019 switching sides.

Speaking to the Press Association, Ms Kitchen said the results in Wellingborough and Kingswood near Bristol, where Labour also won in a Conservative seat, were indicative of a wider trend.

“This shows that people are fed up, they want change, they want competency, they want pragmatism and they want politicians to under-promise and over-deliver, which is what I am hoping to do," she said.

“It shows how much hard work we put in and the real positive message we were putting out. There is a real appetite for a fresh start and change.”

When asked whether she could replicate her win at the next general election, she said: “There’s a lot of try before you buy, a lot of people lending their votes.

“I have to make sure they buy again, so I will be out door-knocking, campaigning and delivering on our pledges.

“I will be working incredibly hard to secure their votes whenever the general election comes and I will be working really hard on our case work that we have picked up on at the doors.

“We have had so many people say they haven’t had a politician knock on their doors in the last 20 years. It means we have to make sure we deliver on the promises we have made.”

Defeats in Thursday’s by-elections in Kingswood and Wellingborough mean the Conservatives have lost more by-elections in a single parliament than any government since the 1960s.

The Tories have clocked up 10 such defeats since the 2019 general election – two more than the eight suffered by the 1992-97 Conservative government led by John Major.

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