LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2021) The ruling Conservative Party won the parliament seat of Hartlepool, an English northern town that had been voting Labour since the constituency was created in 1974, official elections results showed on Friday.
Hartlepool's was the only House of Commons seat on dispute in Thursday's local elections that saw millions of voters going to polling stations to elect their local authorities, from councillors, mayors and members of regional parliaments to police commissioners.
According to results, Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer defeated Labour candidate Paul Williams by almost 7,000 votes (15,529 to 8,589 votes, respectively).
The election has been portrayed as a major test for opposition leader Keir Starmer, who took control of the party in April 2020, four months after the Labour Party had suffered an overwhelming defeat in the general elections.
Reacting to the election results, Labour lawmaker Diane Abbot, who was the party's deputy leader under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership tweeted: "Crushing defeat for Labour in Hartlepool. Not possible to blame Jeremy Corbyn for this result. Labour won the seat twice under his leadership. Keir Starmer must think again about his strategy."
Calls for the Labour leader's resignation are also growing louder on social media, since ahead of Thursday election, Starmer had said that he would take responsibility for the results in Hartlepool.
