Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Trudy Harrison: "What has happened here tonight is a truly historic event"

The Conservatives have won the Copeland by-election, beating Labour in an area it represented for more than 80 years.

Trudy Harrison won with 13,748 votes to 11,601 for Labour's Gillian Troughton.

Mrs Harrison hailed the victory in the Cumbrian seat - the first by-election gain by a governing party since 1982 - as "a truly historic event".

Labour's Gareth Snell held Stoke-on-Trent Central with 7,853 votes, seeing off a challenge from UKIP leader Paul Nuttall who got 5,233.

Labour had held both seats since their creation but was forced to defend them when two former frontbenchers, Tristram Hunt and Jamie Reed, resigned as MPs.

Copeland, created in 1983, and its predecessor constituency Whitehaven have returned Labour MPs since 1935.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Gareth Snell: "A city dubbed by some the capital of Brexit has once again proved to the world we are so much more than that"

Mrs Harrison, who had been joined by Prime Minister Theresa May on the campaign trail, got 44.3% of the vote, increasing the Conservatives' vote share by more than 8%. She overturned a Labour majority of more than 2,564 to take the seat by 2,147 votes - a swing of more than 6%.

Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said the Copeland result was the best by-election performance by a governing party in terms of the increase in its share of the vote since January 1966.

In her victory speech, Mrs Harrison said: "It's been very clear talking to people throughout this campaign that [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn doesn't represent them.

Analysis: May strengthened, anguish for Labour

Image copyright Reuters

By Norman Smith, assistant political editor

Theresa May this morning finds her grip on British politics hugely strengthened.

For a governing party after seven years of austerity to be sweeping aside Labour in a heartland seat and to see their share of the vote increase in another is an extraordinary achievement.

It will be taken by her supporters as a vindication of her hard-edged drive towards Brexit and her break with the more metropolitan politics of David Cameron.

As for Labour, relief that it has at least repulsed the perceived threat of UKIP but its slow painful anguish under Jeremy Corbyn seems set to continue.

In normal times, both by-elections should have raised barely a flicker of concern and while the slide in support may not ignite a further leadership challenge, the convictions of Mr Corbyn's critics that he is leading the party into the wilderness will only have been strengthened.

"They want a party which is on the side of ordinary working people, which will respect the way we voted in the referendum and which will build a country which represents everyone. That's why they voted for me tonight."

Mr Corbyn said Labour's "message was not enough to win through in Copeland" but hailed victory in Stoke as a "decisive rejection of UKIP's politics of division and dishonesty".

He added: "Labour will go further to reconnect with voters and break with the failed political consensus."

But Labour MP John Woodcock, a critic of the leader, said as things stood the party was on course for a "historic and catastrophic defeat" at the next general election.

In Stoke-on-Trent, UKIP had hoped to capitalise on voters' leanings towards Brexit - the area voted strongly to leave the EU in June.

Both the Labour and UKIP candidates had tough moments during their campaigns, with Mr Snell apologising over old social media posts about women appearing on television and Mr Nuttall facing a backlash over false claims he lost close friends in the Hillsborough tragedy.

But in his victory speech, the new Labour MP Gareth Snell said voters had "chosen the politics of hope over the politics of fear".

"This city will not allow ourselves to be defined by last year's referendum and we will not allow ourselves to be divided by the result," he said.

He said the result was "a victory for the whole Labour Party and Labour movement".

However Labour's share of the vote was 37% - slightly down on the 39.3% it got in 2015.

UKIP got 24.7% of the vote and the Conservatives, who came a close third, 24.4% - both slightly higher than their 2015 vote shares.

Analysis: UKIP's missed chance

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption UKIP's new leader Paul Nuttall had hoped to overturn Labour's hold on Stoke

By BBC political correspondent Chris Mason in Stoke

The questions facing Labour in Copeland are tumbling UKIP's way here in Stoke.

A party whose very success in achieving the thing they were set up to achieve, Brexit, brought with it a blunt question - what is the point of them now?

The answer sounded like this: winning traditionally Labour seats from Labour.

And yet here in Stoke-on-Trent, a hubbub of Brexiteer jubilation after the referendum, they failed.

UKIP insists this seat was always well down their target list. But on a night where Labour was sufficiently vulnerable to lose a previously rock-solid seat in Cumbria, UKIP's still the bridesmaid not the bride in the Potteries.

All of which begs two questions: If not here, where? If not now, when?

Speaking to journalists after the result, UKIP leader Mr Nuttall said his party's "time would come".

"There's a lot more to come from us," he said. We are not going anywhere, I'm not going anywhere."

UKIP chairman Paul Oakden said: "The whole narrative of Paul's leadership depends on winning in Stoke is a nonsense."

Labour MP Jack Dromey, who ran Mr Snell's campaign, said: "I think as we win we need necessary humility because there is a view that Labour is no longer listening in the way it should do.

"I think what we have done in this community is precisely to do that.

"Are we yet a credible alternative government? No we're not. But tonight is a decisive moment."

The by-election results mean the government's majority is now 12 - the same as it was immediately after the general election, as the Conservative's new Copeland seat makes up for the one they lost to the Lib Dems in the Richmond Park by-election. The working majority is 16.</s>Leaders on the brink! Jeremy Corbyn's Labour are embarrassed in historic by-election loss to Tories in Copeland as Ukip's Paul Nuttall is soundly beaten in Stoke after Hillsborough controversy
• In Copeland, Tory candidate Trudy Harrison made history with her victory
• First time in 35 years the Government had beaten opposition in a by-election
• It has raised questions on the future of both Corbyn and Nuttall as party leaders
• Voter turnout was 38.16% in Stoke-on-Trent Central and 51.35% in Copeland

The historic result marked the first time the Government has taken a seat from the opposition in a by-election in 35 years.

It had earlier looked like a good night for Corbyn after the Labour party held onto the Stoke seat in the by-election, as candidate Gareth Snell defeat Ukip leader Paul Nuttall.

But the embarrassment of the Copeland result swiftly overshadowed that win.

It has now heaped pressure and raised questions on the future of both Corbyn and Nuttall as party leaders.

Speaking after her victory in Copeland, Mrs Harrison said: 'It’s been very clear talking to people throughout this campaign that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t represent them.

'They want a party which is on the side of ordinary working people who will respect the way we voted in the referendum and will build a country that represents everyone. That’s why they voted for me.'

It was thought that Ukip's Paul Nuttall would provide strong competition in Stoke.

But the party's leader finished in second place, after his campaign was marred by a number of controversies.

Labour candidate Gareth Snell retained the seat for the party with 7,853 votes, after a turnout of 38 per cent.

During a lively campaign questions were raised over whether Mr Nuttall, who received 5,233 votes, had misrepresented his links to the Hillsborough disaster by saying he had lost 'close friends'.

In his victory speech, Mr Snell said: 'This city will not allow ourselves to be defined by last year's referendum. And we will not allow ourselves to be divided by the result.

'Nor will we be divided by race, or faith, or creed. We will move forward together to tackle the problems that we face and secure a brighter, more prosperous future for one another.

'So for those who have come to Stoke-on-Trent to sow hatred and division, and to try to turn us away from our friends and neighbours, I have one message – you have failed.

'Tonight the people of Stoke-on-Trent have chosen the politics of hope over the politics of fear. We have said with one voice that hatred and bigotry are not welcome here. This is a proud city and we stand together.'

'I am proud to call the Potteries my home, and I am prouder still to have been elected its next member of Parliament.'

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: Labour's victory in Stoke is a decisive rejection of UKIP's politics of division. But our message was not enough to win through in Copeland.

Labour listened to 1000s of voters on the doorstep. Both constituencies, like so many, have been let down by the political establishment.

Labour's victory in Stoke is a decisive rejection of UKIP's politics of division. But our message was not enough to win through in Copeland.'

Defeated Ukip candidate Mr Nuttall claimed the seat was only 72nd on his party's hitlist.

He said: 'We are not going anywhere and I am not going anywhere.

'We will go on and have success in the future.'

Pressed on the Hillsborough, he said: 'The whole Hillsborough issue wasn't an issue on the doorsteps here in Stoke-on-Trent.

'Labour got their machine out on the day, we did our best, we have fallen short this time but our time will come.'

The contest was triggered by the resignations of Labour's Tristram Hunt, who quit to become director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Labour's campaign was dogged by the controversial views of Mr Snell. He was forced to issue an apology after making a number of disparaging remarks about women on social media.

He has also courted criticism by describing Brexit as a 'massive pile of s***', in a constituency where almost 70 per cent of people voted to leave the EU.

But the row was overshadowed by controversy about Mr Nuttall who was forced to apologise for a statement on his website saying he had lost close friends in the Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Polls closed in two crunch by-elections last night in Labour heartlands where the party faced fierce challenges from the Conservatives and Ukip.

Voter turnout was 38.16 per cent in Stoke-on-Trent Central and 51.35 per cent in Copeland. Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron predicted Ukip had failed to take the Stoke seat.

He said: 'This is the beginning of the end for Ukip. They no longer have a purpose.

'Theresa May has adopted Farage's approach to Brexit and her government has become indistinguishable from Ukip.

'Only the Liberal Democrats are standing up against hard Brexit for a Britain that is open, tolerant and united.'

Meanwhile, Ukip chairman Paul Oakden insisted that Mr Nuttall would remain as leader despite the crushing defeat.

He said: 'He has a well-earned rest and then he comes back and leads our party, I suspect.

'The whole narrative of Paul's leadership depends on winning in Stoke is a nonsense.

'The membership are behind Paul, they want him to be leader of the party, he wants to be leader of the party and whatever the result here is, that's not going to change.'

With Labour trailing badly in the opinion polls, the contests were being seen as a test of whether Jeremy Corbyn can re-connect with the party's traditional supporters in the wake of the Brexit referendum vote.

There were signs in recent days of growing confidence among Labour MPs that they will hang on in Stoke Central, despite a concerted challenge by Ukip.

But in the Cumbrian seat of Copeland, the bookies still made the Conservatives the narrow favourites to snatch victory.

A Tory win would mark a rare by-election gain for a Government party, underlining the scale of the task facing Mr Corbyn in his quest for Downing Street.

The seat has been Labour since it was formed in 1983, but its majority has been steadily eroded by the Conservatives in subsequent elections, dropping to just 2,564 in 2015.

Meanwhile, Professor Green stole the show by bizarrely turning up at the Stoke by-election count.

The rapper, whose real name is Stephen Paul Manderson, made a surprise appearance at Fenton Sports Centre in the city and mingled with journalists.

He did not wish to speak to the media on-the-record, but it's understood he was there to film a TV documentary.</s>Labour have WON the bitterly-fought Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election in a victory that spells humiliation for Paul Nuttall.

The Ukip leader failed to overturn Labour's 5,000 majority on a polling day that saw Storm Doris bring rain and chaos to the pottery capital.

Labour candidate Gareth Snell won 7,853 votes to 5,233 for Mr Nuttall. Tory candidate Jack Brereton came third with 5,154 votes - less than 100 behind Ukip.

Mr Snell declared: “To those who came to Stoke on Trent to sow hatred and division and turn us away from our friends and neighbours - I have one simple message. You have failed.”

Mr Nuttall refused calls to quit and left the venue in a chaotic scrum pursued by the press before walking the wrong way and being escorted to his car by police.

The result brought brief relief to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - but the party faced a dismal result in its other by-election of the night.

The Tories seized control of Copeland, a Cumbria seat that had been held by Labour non-stop since the 1980s.

There had been fears over turnout as Storm Doris battered Stoke, bringing down a tree on a children's play area, cancelling trains to the city and leaving a local woman in her 60s in hospital.

Stoke also had the lowest turnout in the country at the 2015 general election.

But 500 Labour activists hit the ground in the final hours and turnout nudged up to 38% - beyond what activists from all sides expected.

Hundreds battled Storm Doris in their last-minute push for votes in the race to win Stoke-on-Trent Central - a Labour seat since 1950.

Tweed-clad candidate Mr Nuttall was forced to change his clothes after one downpour in the storm before later heading to the pub.

Labour's candidate Gareth Snell joined MPs and activists for canvassing while other Labour activists called voters from a London phone bank.

Campaign organiser and MP Jack Dromey claimed more than 500 Labour activists were involved on polling day.

He said before the result: "I think the turnout is bound to be low because of the extreme weather. This is one of the worst storms of the last 50 years.

"I think if we win tonight Ukip are likely to end up in crisis because they would have thrown everything at their one objective and failed.

"We're not taking anything for granted because it remains tough and tight, but we're cautiously optimistic."

Tory candidate Jack Brereton joined his party chairman Patrick McLoughlin in Stoke to meet voters hours before polls closed.

Mr Nuttall arrived late to the count - which bizarrely was attended by rapper Professor Green making a TV show - at almost 1.30am and grinned for the cameras despite the imminent result.

But his party chairman Paul Oakden was forced into making a furious defence of his record.

Mr Oakden told the BBC: "This narrative of Paul Nuttall is dishonest is quite frankly absurd.

“The suggestion from some in the left-wing media that Paul Nuttall was not at Hillsborough is a disgrace.”

There was embarrassment too for the Tories after earlier suggestions they would knock Ukip into third place.

Hours before the result, government minister Matt Hancock completely failed to name his own candidate - 25-year-old Mr Brereton.

Cornered by the BBC he said: “Um... he’s... a... erm... I didn’t meet him because I didn’t go... Phil Broughton?”

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, whose party trailed far behind Ukip, said after the result: "This is the beginning of the end for UKIP.

"They no longer have a purpose."</s>Ukip ran Labour a close second during the last election, finishing just 5,179 votes behind the left-wingers. The Express.co.uk has been told the result between Ukip and Labour is too close to call, however the Tories are expected to finish a “distant” third

Another Ukip source also told the Express.co.uk that Labour had just edged the Stoke by-election. The weather was a help for the eurosceptic party but Labour’s superior amount of activists on the ground has helped them to get the vote out, a Ukip source has claimed. Turnout in Stoke was officially announced as 38.1 per cent – higher than what experts predicted.Labour have held Stoke-on-Trent Central since the seat was created in the 1950.

Polling in Stoke closed at 10pm on Thursday and the results are due in around 3am on Friday morning. Ukip will have been buoyed after a recent national poll found that Labour were the third choice party, behind the Tories and Ukip, among working class voters.

The by-election has been marred by a series of blunders in both the Ukip and Labour camps. Labour’s pro-Remain candidate for Stoke, Gareth Snell, labelled Brexit a “pile of s***” following the referendum result. Paul Nuttall has also been attacked after a post on his website claimed he had lost “close personal friend” in the Hillsborough disaster – something he admitted was not true during a live radio interview.</s>12.45 Last week the UKIP leader, and their candidate in Stoke, Paul Nuttall had a week to forget, where he went AWOL, insulted the memory of Hillsborough and had his ability to vote in the seat thrown into doubt. You can read all about it here.

12.35 Our editor Peter Edwards wrote a piece on Westminster’s neglect of Copeland, you can read it here.

Decent turnouts are always thought to help Labour.

12.15 Former PPC for Rochester and Strood Naushabah Khan has written for us on her experience of fighting a by-election. She reaffirms the importance of standing up to UKIP, saying that a Labour victory in Stoke could be the perfect platform for a fightback against their politics of divisiveness. We should be getting Copeland’s turnout figures very soon.

12.00 Labour’s candidate in Stoke Snell tweets his thanks to the volunteers in the seat:

11.45 On Monday I ventured to Stoke, visiting the Midlands seat to knock on doors, deliver a few leaflets and interview Labour’s candidate Gareth Snell. He said that beating Paul Nuttall could spell the end of the UKIP leader, and perhaps even the end of the party altogether. He feels that the by-election vote is a lot bigger than himself. He’s probably right.

11.35 However, in Copeland, the race is thought to be too close to call. Bookmakers are unfortunately thinking that the Conservatives are the more likely victors. This would be a landmark loss for Labour, as I said at 10.50, no opposition party has lost a seat to the government in a by-election since 1982. Indeed, it would be unlike the Conservative’s victory in Mitcham and Morden, which was triggered by the defection of a Labour MP to the SDP. This caused a further fracturing of the Labour vote. Tory sources are, according to The Guardian, not playing up their chances at the count.

11.20 The general feeling is that Labour are on course to hold onto Stoke, with most bookmakers giving us the edge in the Midlands seat. UKIP’s only MP, Douglas Carswell, has conceded that the “most likely outcome is Labour will win” on BBC Question Time. Let us hope he is right.

11.10 Last week, Peter Edwards, LabourList’s editor, visited Copeland and interviewed our candidate there, Gillian Troughton. She urged a vote for Labour as the only way to save vital NHS services in the seat.

11.00 Here is an email Corbyn sent to MPs as polls closed, via a Labour source:

I wanted to write to thank you for all of your work to support the by-elections. At a difficult time for the party, in the midst of the Article 50 debates, our MPs have led the way. Thank you for all you have done motivating members and activists, at our phone banks, supporting our candidates and, of course, hitting the doors day in and day out. Special thanks are of course due to Andrew Gwynne, Sue Hayman, Cat Smith, Jack Dromey and Ruth Smeeth, who have gone above and beyond to lead these campaigns on behalf of the Party. Myself, the PLP, and the whole of the Labour movement owe you a great debt of thanks.

We always knew that these were going to be competitive, close and challenging elections, but with your help we have made the arguments on the issues that matter to working people – our local NHS services, and an economy that works for the whole of the country, ensuring that no one is left behind. We should all be proud of the campaigns we have run, and I have extended my thanks, on behalf of the PLP, to the Party staff who have put their lives on hold and worked seven-day weeks to make the case for Labour.

We will know more once the counts are underway, and of course, colleagues will be kept updated. But for now, thank you again, and I hope everyone has the chance to relax this evening after a long (and wet) day on the doorstep.

10.50 It is worth remembering that no opposition party has lost a seat to the government since 1982, when Labour lost Mitcham and Morden to the Conservative party. Let us hope that record isn’t altered tonight.

10.40 Ballot boxes have started arriving in Stoke’s counting centre. We expect a declaration from the Midlands seat a little sooner than from Cumbria – not least because the latter is much more rural.

10.30 Though, it would seem that anecdotal evidence that weather effects turnout could be a little off. Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin, editor of Left Foot Forward, alerted me to this article, which suggests that in countries like Britain – where voting is relatively easy with polling stations easy to access, poor weather has a negligible effect.

10.20 Jeremy Corbyn has just posted this statement on his Facebook page: “As polls close in Copeland and Stoke, I want to thank everyone who has been out campaigning for Labour. Today, hundreds have braved Storm Doris, as part of two excellent campaigns, with activists pouring in from across Britain.”

“The political establishment has let down Copeland and Stoke, who have seen their industries gutted, living standards stagnate and hope for a better future for their children and grandchildren decline.”

“Whatever the results, the Labour Party – and our mass membership – must go further to break the failed political consensus, and win power to rebuild and transform Britain.”

10.15 Most of the country has been enjoying the wondrous weather of Storm Doris, lashing our islands with rain and high winds. Both Copeland and Stoke on Trent have been effected by this, with many an image on twitter of soggy activists and MPs. The general fear is that poor weather effects turnout, and that this in turn primarily effects Labour’s vote more. Let us hope not.

10.00 Hello and welcome to our liveblog! Polls have just closed in the Midlands and Cumbria, with nothing more now that Labour’s excellent candidates can do.

Gillian Troughton is our candidate in Copeland, with the other major player the Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison. The Tories ran Labour very close in 2015, with Jamie Reed having a slim 2,564 majority in that election.

In Stoke, Labour’s Gareth Snell is challenged by UKIP’s leader Paul Nuttall and the Conservative Jack Brereton. In 2015, UKIP came second, 5,179 votes behind Labour’s Tristram Hunt. The Tories were only 33 votes behind UKIP, so are by no means out of the running.

Enjoying our journalism? If you love Labour and want to support the best blog dedicated to the party’s people and policies then donate here.</s>
• UKIP's Paul Nuttall: 'We are not going anywhere'
• Narrowing gap on Labour is scant consolation for Ukip

Jeremy Corbyn has suffered a humiliating by-election defeat after losing Copeland to the Conservatives.

Trudy Harrison snatched the seat by 2,147 votes, making the Conservatives the first governing party to gain a seat in a by-election since 1982.

The Labour leader admitted the party had failed to get its message through in Cumbria.

But the party held Stoke-on-Trent Central after Ukip leader Paul Nuttall failed in his bid to win the seat.

Labour's Gareth Snell secured a win of 7,853 to his challenger's 5,233 to be elected as the city's new MP.

Mr Nuttall said Ukip was "not going anywhere" and insisted his party's "time would come".</s>Britain’s Labour Party on Friday beat UKIP to win a by-election in the Brexit bastion of Stoke-on-Trent but suffered a “historic” defeat by the ruling Conservatives in a separate local vote.

Labour clung on to its Stoke-on-Trent seat with Gareth Snell taking 7,853 votes to 5,233 for Paul Nuttall, leader of the U.K. Independence Party.

The win in Stoke was welcomed as “a clear victory” on Twitter by embattled Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose party is deeply divided and languishing in the polls.

The ruling party gained further ground against the Labour Party on Friday, taking the rural Cumbrian seat of Copeland.

Conservative Trudy Harrison hailed a “truly historic event” after winning the by-election with 13,748 votes to 11,601 for Labour’s Gillian Troughton.

The win was the first time a governing party has taken a seat from a rival since 1982.

Labour had held the Copeland constituency since it was formed in 1983, but its majority has been dropping and MP Jamie Reed won by a majority of just 2,564 at the 2015 general election.

Reed announced his resignation in December to take a job in the nuclear industry.

Many jobs in Copeland depend on the Sellafield nuclear processing facility, and Corbyn’s strong anti-nuclear stance may have hurt Labour in the vote.

The party’s unsuccessful campaign focused on threatened cuts to the local hospital, echoing Corbyn’s repeated attacks on May for not giving sufficient funds to the state-run National Health Service (NHS).

“Labour’s victory in Stoke is a decisive rejection of UKIP’s politics of division. But our message was not enough to win through in Copeland,” Corbyn wrote on Twitter.

In Stoke, newly elected Snell told the BBC that Corbyn was “very much an asset” on the campaign trail.

The seat has been held by Labour since its creation in 1950, but the party’s standing in the city had been shaken by Brexit.

Stoke in the West Midlands recorded the strongest vote to leave the European Union of any of Britain’s 30 major cities in last June’s referendum, at 69.4 percent — even though its Labour MP, Tristram Hunt, opposed Brexit.

Hunt stepped down last month to become the director of the V&A museum in London, citing in his resignation letter his “frustration” at Labour’s direction under Corbyn.

Nationwide most Labour voters supported Brexit while most of their MPs wanted to stay in the EU, a gap which UKIP unsuccessfully sought to capitalize on.

Ahead of the vote Snell told AFP he would back his constituents and support kick-starting divorce talks with Brussels.

In his acceptance speech, the new Labour MP said Stoke should not be defined by its view of the European Union.

“A city dubbed by some as the capital of Brexit, has once again proved to the world that we are so much more than that.”

“This city will not allow itself to be defined by last year’s referendum … nor will we be divided by race, by faith or creed,” he added.

New UKIP leader Nuttall had jumped at the chance to take the seat, in which the party came second in the 2015 election with 23 percent of the vote to Labour’s 39 percent.

The anti-establishment party had hoped to build on the widespread sense of public alienation from mainstream politics — and prove it has a future after securing its founding aim of leaving the EU.

Nuttall insisted the defeat did not mark the end of UKIP.

“There’s a lot more to come from us,” he said. “We are not going anywhere, I’m not going anywhere.”

His campaign was damaged by controversy over the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster, after he admitted that claims on his website that he had close friends among the 96 victims were wrong.

Nuttall condemned the controversy as a “coordinated, cruel and almost evil smear campaign,” but there is no doubt it damaged his chances.

Apathy runs deep in Stoke where turnout was 38.16 percent, compared to 51.35 percent in Copeland.

The Conservative candidate Jack Brereton was left in third place in Stoke, with 5,154 votes.</s>Labour has held Stoke Central after beating back a strong challenge from Ukip with a senior party MP calling for "humility" in victory.

MP Jack Dromey said: "I think as we win we need necessary humility because there is a view that Labour is no longer listening in the way it should do.

"I think what we have done in this community is precisely to do that.

Are we yet a credible alternative government? No we're not.

Mr Dromey had been speaking as it became increasingly clear voters in Stoke-on-Trent Central had elected Labour's Gareth Snell following a tight-fought battle with Ukip, whose leader Paul Nuttall came second.

Mr Snell was elected with 7,853 of the votes.

The seat has been a Labour stronghold since it was created in 1950, but became a key battleground after Mr Nuttall's decision to personally contest the by-election for Ukip.

However, his campaign had been dogged by controversy in recent weeks after he said a claim he had lost "close personal friends" in the Hillsborough disaster on his official website was untrue.

A Ukip press officer said she was to blame for the error and offered to resign, while Mr Nuttall apologised for the mistake.

Two senior party officials in Liverpool resigned earlier this week, citing Ukip's "crass and insensitive" handling of the Hillsborough controversy.

Meanwhile, Mr Nuttall's opponent Mr Snell also had a controversial campaign, having to apologise for past tweets in which he said party leader Jeremy Corbyn was "an IRA-supporting friend of Hamas".

During the EU referendum, Stoke voted by more than 69% in favour of a divorce with Brussels.

But in his victory speech at Fenton Manor Leisure Centre in the early hours, Mr Snell said the poll showed that the city would not be "divided".

He said: "We will move forward together to tackle the problems we face, and secure a brighter more prosperous future for everyone."

And turning his attention to Ukip, he added: "So to those of you who came to Stoke-on-Trent to sow hatred and division and turn us away from our neighbours, I have one simple message: you have failed."

He said Stoke had "chosen the politics of hope over the politics of fear".

Mr Snell added that his job would be "to put this campaign behind us, and work together", pledging he would work for all his constituents and be "a strong local voice our city needs".

Conceding defeat, Mr Nuttall said: "There's going to be a lot more seats which could be more favourable in the future and we will go on and we will have success in the future."

Asked if Hillsborough had damaged his campaign, he said: "Well actually, you know, the whole thing with Hillsborough wasn't an issue on the doorstep in Stoke-on-Trent.

Quizzed on whether he would stand again, he replied: "I'll probably stand in the general election in 2020."

When asked what would happen to Mr Nuttall if Ukip failed to win, party chairman Paul Oakden said: "He has a well-earned rest and then he comes back and leads our party, I suspect.

"The whole narrative of Paul's leadership depends on winning in Stoke is a nonsense."

On the night Ukip beat the Conservatives into third by just 79 votes, polling 5,233 to 5,154.

Mr Nuttall was branded "a carpet-bagger" by Mr Dromey, MP for Erdington in Birmingham.

He added that while Labour was still "the party of working people", it had more work to do if it wanted to win back public confidence and return to government.

But he said the party had showed in Stoke that it could listen to people's concerns, by selecting a "local and proud" candidate in Mr Snell.

He added there was a wider political debate to be had about broadening the "pool of people we draw MPs from" saying it should feature more factory workers and "dare I say, chief executives".

Earlier in the evening while speaking on BBC Question Time, Ukip's only MP Douglas Carswell appeared to concede defeat to Labour in Stoke hours before the result.

The MP for Clacton said: "I think the most likely outcome is that Labour will win.

"Stoke is not even in our top 50 target seats."

Official turnout was 38.16%, with 21,200 votes cast.</s>UKIP chairman Paul Oakden has said he believes it could be years before his party wins another by-election - after it failed to make the breakthrough it had hoped for in Labour's heartlands.

Party leader Paul Nuttall had hoped to oust Labour in the Stoke Central by-election but fell short by 2,630 votes.

Mr Oakden said it was a "stepping stone" for the party but added that the defeat was "disappointing".

The party currently has one MP - former Conservative Douglas Carswell.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "Something clearly didn't fire yesterday in as much as the fact that we didn't win.

"Politics is a long game. It took us 23-odd years to win a referendum to get Britain out of the European Union.

"It may take that long for us to get a seat in Westminster via a by-election. But if that's how long it takes then that's what we will keep doing, because that's what we are here for."

The party has previously had two wins in by-elections - in 2014 - but both of those had been Tory MPs who had quit their party and then stood in the same constituencies for UKIP at the subsequent by-elections.

One of those, Douglas Carswell, held on to his seat in Clacton, Essex, at the 2015 general election. However, Mark Reckless lost his Kent seat of Rochester and Strood back to the Conservatives.

UKIP had regarded Stoke as a promising opportunity to make a different kind of electoral breakthrough, taking the fight to Labour in constituencies that had voted overwhelmingly in favour of Brexit at last year's EU referendum.

The party pinned its hopes on its new leader becoming the party's first MP who had not previously held the same seat as a Conservative.

But his efforts were not enough to prevent Gareth Snell winning in the Staffordshire city and holding the seat for Labour.

Mr Oakden said UKIP had gone into Thursday's by-election with "high hopes and optimism" but had never assumed they were favourites to win the Stoke seat.

He told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "Sadly the four-week campaign that we had just wasn't enough to introduce ourselves and our new leader to the voters in Stoke-on-Trent Central.

"But actually we are very pleased coming out of yesterday - disappointed but pleased that we managed to improve on our vote result in 2015.

"We think that there is enough there to be very hopeful and optimistic about."

Mr Oakden described the 2% improvement on the 2015 campaign as a "step forward", and said Mr Nuttall had been "incredibly courageous" to put himself forward as a candidate despite being leader for just 12 weeks.

He said: "Our party came together in a way that it hasn't done for an awfully long time to rally around our leader and our candidate Paul Nuttall. There is an awful lot there to be hopeful for.

"This is a stepping stone, it is a disappointing night because we were hoping that we might win, but certainly it gives us some optimism for the future."

Mr Oakden admitted a false claim that Mr Nuttall had lost close friends in the Hillsborough football disaster had overshadowed the campaign, describing it as a "very unfortunate episode on a very sensitive issue".

But he said voters had barely mentioned it, saying: "There were other things that people wanted to talk about."

And he denied that Mr Nuttall had risked his reputation by losing the by-election and failing to take votes from Labour.

Mr Oakden said: "Paul Nuttall believes in leading from the front and that is exactly what he did by making himself the candidate in this election, and that is why it was a courageous thing to do and that is why our party are wholesome in their support of him as a leader this morning."

He added: "The membership want him there, they are looking forward to following in future elections."</s>Labour suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the the Conservative party in Copeland, a heartland seat dominated by the party since 1924, just half an hour after the party saw off Ukip leader Paul Nuttall in a bitter battle for Stoke Central.

Jeremy Corbyn is under mounting pressure after Labour’s Gillian Troughton was defeated by the Conservatives’ Trudy Harrison, marking the first time a governing party has taken a seat from another party in a byelection in 35 years.

The defeat will force some soul-searching about the party’s electoral tactics, in a constituency facing an imminent threat to the local maternity unit and a laser-focus on the NHS by Labour. Critics of the Labour leader will claim that his perceived hostility to the nuclear industry – which employs more than 10,000 workers in the west Cumbrian constituency – was key to the defeat.

But Nuttall’s defeat in Stoke will undermine his oft-stated ambition to replace Labour as the voice of the working classes and will leave many questioning the party’s relevance, given its vote share shrank in Copeland.

The Ukip leader, who is from Merseyside and admitted he had few links to the city in Staffordshire, had gambled that the seat was winnable on the basis of the constituency’s 69% leave vote in the June 2016 EU referendum. But he lost with 5,233 votes to Gareth Snell’s 7,853, leaving the seat vacated by Tristram Hunt in Labour hands.

The Conservatives’ Jack Brereton came a close third with 5,154 votes.

In his victory speech Snell said his win proved Stoke would not allow itself to be defined by the referendum result. “The city lazily dubbed by some as the capital of Brexit has once again proven to the world that we are so much more than that,” he said.

“So for those who have come to Stoke-on-Trent to sow hatred and division, and to try to turn us away from our friends and neighbours, I have one message: you have failed,” he said to cheers from Labour activists.

Corbyn struck a more sombre note in a statement after the results were declared, heralding the Stoke victory as a “decisive rejection” of Ukip’s values. “But our message was not enough to win through in Copeland,” he said.

“In both campaigns, Labour listened to thousands of voters on the doorstep. Both constituencies, like so many in Britain, have been let down by the political establishment. To win power to rebuild and transform Britain, Labour will go further to reconnect with voters, and break with the failed political consensus.”



Troughton left the Copeland count at Cleveland sports centre within minutes of the dramatic result being announced and without making a concession speech. She was heckled by a passerby who shouted “Sack Corbyn!” as she was rushed into a waiting car.



Harrison, a political novice, said in her victory speech: “What has happened here tonight is a truly historic event. You’d have to go back more than a century to find an example of a governing party taking a seat from the opposition party in an election like this.

“We’ve had Labour here for more than 80 years but it’s been very clear talking to people throughout this campaign that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t represent them.

“They want a party which is on the side of ordinary working people, which will respect the way we voted in the referendum, and which will build a country which represents everyone. That’s why they voted for me tonight.”

Labour was battling to save a slim 2,564 majority left by Jamie Reed, an outspoken Corbyn critic who quit to take a job at the local Sellafield nuclear decommissioning plant.

Tory campaigners made much of an ITV Borders television interview by Corbyn at the end of January in which he failed four times to say he supported Moorside, a multi-billion pound nuclear plant planned to be built next to Sellafield.

Labour’s campaign focused heavily on Tory-backed plans to close the maternity unit at the new West Cumberland hospital, meaning the nearest service will be an hour-long drive away in Carlisle.



Troughton, a borough councillor, retired doctor and St John ambulance driver who voted against Corbyn in the last leadership contest, consistently claimed the hospital was the “number one issue on the doorstep”.

Speaking after the result, Andrew Gwynne, the Labour MP for Denton and Reddish who ran Troughton’s campaign, conceded that the party “struggled to convince” voters that it backs nuclear power.

For Nuttall, the stakes could not have been higher, with the very survival of Ukip at risk. Two of his party’s local chairs in Merseyside resigned this week over false assertions on his website about losing close friends in the Hillsborough disaster, and the party had already spent months in disarray after the departure of former leader Nigel Farage, replaced for just 18 days by Diane James, followed by another leadership election, won by Nuttall.

At Ukip’s spring conference last week Farage was emphatic: “I don’t think anybody for one moment can underplay just how important, just how fundamental that byelection is for the futures of both the Labour party and indeed of Ukip too – it matters and it matters hugely,” he said.

Mobbed by cameras leaving the leisure centre and chased up and down the street in a frantic search for his car under police escort, Nuttall insisted he would not resign. “No, I’m only 12 weeks in, come on, give me a break,” he said cheerfully.

“This seat was 72 on our target list, there is a lot more to come from us. We are not going anywhere, we move on. There are other issues beyond Brexit.”



Nuttall denied it was the controversy over his Hillsborough comments or home address in Stoke – his nomination papers declared his address as a house where he was not yet resident – that had cost him the seat. “I’ve apologised for that. We move forward.”
Labour's Gareth Snell holds off UKIP's leader Paul Nuttall to win the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election, while Conservative Party candidate Trudy Harrison wins the Copeland by-election, the first gain for a governing party since 1982.