Owen Humphreys/PA
The Labour Party is on track to record a remarkable swing in Hartlepool having lost the seat to the Conservatives in the 2021 by-election.
New constituency polling conducted by We Think with The Economist has predicted that Sir Keir Starmer’s party will take the North East seat by a margin of 58 per cent, with the Tories languishing in third place behind Reform UK.
The poll seems to confirm Conservative fears that votes for parties such as Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats could push them into third spot, with just ten per cent of people signalling they will vote for them in the coastal town.
In 2021, a Tory MP was elected for the first time ever in Hartlepool in a crushing blow to Sir Keir Starmer.
Jill Mortimer, who will defend a sizeable majority at the July 4th General Election, defeated her Labour rival by nearly 7,000 votes, hailing the result as a “truly historic” moment.
On a walkabout in Hartlepool with the victorious Tory candidate, Boris Johnson said her win was a “mandate for us to continue to deliver” for the north-east of England and the rest of the country.
How times have changed.
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