Chester by-election result: Labor 'decisively' wins seat in 'strong message to Conservative Party'

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Labour 'decisively' won the Chester by-election, Rishi Sunak's first electoral test as Prime Minister.

Samantha Dixon retained the Labor seat with an increased majority of 10,974 votes, results in the early hours of Friday morning showed.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labor MP Christian Matheson in October after being accused of sexual misconduct.

Ms Dixon beat the Conservative candidate and nurse in the NHS Liz Wardlaw.

She described the result as 'really, really encouraging' for the party and called the city of Chester a 'flagship constituency'.

"I think I have received a very strong message from Chester voters that they want the Conservatives' cost of living crisis resolved immediately," she told reporters.

"I don't think that 'they believe the Tories have the answers, I think they think it's Labor's turn now."

In her victory speech, Ms Dixon said: "The people of Chester and across the country are really worried Worried about losing their home because they can't pay the mortgage or the rent, worried about knowing if they can turn on the heating, worried about whether they can feed their family.

She continued, “That's the cost of 12 years of Conservative government. The government, which wreaked havoc on our economy, destroyed our public services and betrayed the people who trusted them in the last general election.

Alison McGovern, Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, told reporters that "the people of Chester have sent a clear message to the Conservative government of Rishi Sunak: they are fed up with the Tory regime and want Labour's proposed change".

She added: "Sam will be a great MP for Chester and a strong voice for Chester residents in the Tory cost of living crisis."

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Thursday morning Keir Starmer had tweeted that 'Sam will be a fantastic representative of his community, and as their MP would make the people of Chester proud.'

Electoral officials said turnout was 41.2% (or 28,541 votes), a significant drop from the turnout of 71.7% (54,560 votes) in the 2019 general election.

Andy Carter, Tory MP for Warrington South, played down the significance of Chester's result, saying: 'It's a seat q he went to the Labor Party six times during the...