Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives on Friday suffered two crushing UK parliamentary by-election defeats but averted a “3-0” drubbing by unexpectedly holding on to Boris Johnson’s old Uxbridge seat.
The grave problems facing the British prime minister were highlighted when the opposition Labour party secured its biggest-ever by-election win in the once-safe Tory seat of Selby and Ainsty in Yorkshire.
Earlier the centrist Liberal Democrats demolished a massive Tory majority to win the seat of Somerton and Frome, opening up a dangerous new front for Sunak in the Tory heartlands of England’s South West.
At least in Uxbridge, single issue voters seem to have won it for them
People who are upset with Sadiq Kahn for the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London, despite the fact that their former MP Johnson actually kicked it off…
He (Boris) is to blame for so many things.
Ficklewillfully ignorant voters can’t see past today’s headlines.I actually don’t really think it’s a terrible idea, no matter where it came from. Air quality in London is way better than it used to be, but still not good enough.
I know it’s mostly from the tube, but I always think of the black bogeys I’d get whenever I visited London as a child. My parents told me about how bad the smog was when they lived there in the 60s and 70s.
Oops! I meant Boris!
Will edit to reflect that.
The air is cleaner, and there’s less traffic. Underground was terrible when I was a kidd.
No worries, I guessed that’s what you meant.
I was referring to how ULEZ was initially announced by Boris in 2015. Boris is awful, but that doesn’t mean every idea he had was awful.
No, I think the bikes were a good idea.
The bikes were actually Ken Livingstone’s idea…
Were they? So boris nicked them as well? Shouldnt be surreally.
I remember my eyes watering on a warm day in London due to the pollution and the general stink of the pollution (during the summer a temperature inversion that keeps it capped in will worsen it). I recently visited London during a hot spell and it was remarkable how pleasant the air was in central London. The ULEZ and congestion charges have made London such a better place to be.