Mid Bedfordshire by-election sees historic Labour victory

There was also anger in a place with a large proportion of home owners that their mortgages had gone up, about low level crime, that the party which had promised to protect the green belt had failed to stop development in the countryside, with some of it built with very little supporting infrastructure, about the difficulty of finding an NHS dentist or getting a GP appointment.I’m told that the Conservatives’ failure to “stop the boats” was another issue which kept coming up.Labour will be delighted at winning so deep into the so-called blue wall, but it’s worth noting how well the Liberal Democrat’s did – a sign that this was probably first and foremost a protest vote against the Conservatives rather than a surge of Tory voters switching their allegiance to Labour.The Tories are already saying that come the general election, which will be in January 2025 at the latest, they should be able to take this seat back.