Copeland by-election, 2017
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There was a by-election in the British parliamentary constituency of Copeland on 23 February 2017 (the same day as the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election), following the resignation of
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Member of Parliament (MP)
Jamie Reed Jamieson Ronald "Jamie" Reed (born 4 August 1973) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Mini ...
. Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison gained the seat from
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
, the first gain for a governing party in a by-election since 1982.


Result

This was the first time since 1935 that Labour had failed to win the constituency or its predecessor, Whitehaven. It was also the first gain for a governing party at a UK by-election since the
1982 Mitcham and Morden by-election The Mitcham and Morden by-election was held on 3 June 1982. It was a rare example of a governing party (the British Conservatives) gaining a seat in a by-election. Overview The by-election was caused by the resignation of Bruce Douglas-Mann, the ...
, where the incumbent Labour MP had sought re-election after defecting to the
Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...
against the background of the
Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
. It was the largest increase in the share of the vote of a governing party in a by-election since the Kingston upon Hull North by-election in January 1966. According to Matt Singh of psephology website
Number Cruncher Politics Number Cruncher Politics is a political analysis and polling consultancy and blog site launched in 2014. The site is non-partisan and focusses on UK opinion polling, psephology, and statistical analysis. It is perhaps best known for correctly pred ...
, it was the first directly comparable by-election gain for a governing party since the 1878 by-election in Worcester. By this, Singh meant that the governing party gained a seat: *without the incumbent having defected from their party (as at the
1982 Mitcham and Morden by-election The Mitcham and Morden by-election was held on 3 June 1982. It was a rare example of a governing party (the British Conservatives) gaining a seat in a by-election. Overview The by-election was caused by the resignation of Bruce Douglas-Mann, the ...
and the
1929 Preston by-election The 1929 Preston by-election was a by-election, parliamentary by-election held in England for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons United Kingdom constituencies, constituency of Preston (UK Parliament constituency), Preston ...
); *without the winning candidate being disqualified (as at the
1961 Bristol South East by-election The 1961 Bristol South East by-election was a by-election held on 4 May 1961 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bristol South East in the city of Bristol. The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parlia ...
); *where the incumbent's party had a prior majority of more than 3% (unlike at the
1960 Brighouse and Spenborough by-election A by-election was held for the British House of Commons constituency of Brighouse and Spenborough on 17 March 1960. The seat became vacant following the death on 23 November 1959 of the Labour Party Member of Parliament Lewis John Edwards, who ...
, the
1953 Sunderland South by-election The 1953 Sunderland South by-election was held on 13 May 1953. It was held due to the death of the Labour MP Richard Ewart. It was gained by the Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to p ...
, and the
1924 Liverpool West Toxteth by-election "The 1924 Liverpool West Toxteth by-election was held on 22 May 1924. The by-election was held due to the resignation of the incumbent Conservative MP, Robert Houston. It was won by the Labour candidate Joseph Gibbins Joseph Gibbins, JP ( ...
); *where the incumbent had been a member of the principal opposition party (unlike at the
1929 Liverpool Scotland by-election The 1929 Liverpool Scotland by-election was a parliamentary by-election held in England on 14 December 1929 to elect a new Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of the Scotland division of Liverpool. It was caused by t ...
, the
1926 Combined English Universities by-election The 1926 Combined English Universities by-election was held on 8–12 March 1926. The by-election was held due to the resignation of the incumbent Liberal MP, H. A. L. Fisher. It was won by the Conservative candidate Alfred Hopkinson Sir Alfr ...
, the
1922 Hackney South by-election The 1922 Hackney South by-election was held on 18 August 1922, after the expulsion from the House of Commons of the incumbent MP, Horatio Bottomley, who was leader of the Independent Parliamentary Group which attacked the Lloyd George coalition ...
, the
1921 Woolwich East by-election The 1921 Woolwich East by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 2 March 1921 for the British House of Commons constituency of Woolwich East, in the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich in London. Vacancy The seat had become vacant on the ...
, and the
1912 Hanley by-election The 1912 Hanley by-election was a by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Hanley on 13 July 1912. Vacancy The seat had become vacant on 28 June 1912 when the sitting Labour Member of Parliament (MP), 60-year-old Enoch E ...
); and *without there being a significant change in the lineup of parties contesting the seat (as at the
1901 North East Lanarkshire by-election The North East Lanarkshire by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 26 September 1901. The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting s ...
). The poor result for Labour triggered fresh criticism of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party, with calls for him to stand down as leader.


Background

The incumbent Labour MP
Jamie Reed Jamieson Ronald "Jamie" Reed (born 4 August 1973) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Mini ...
announced his intention to resign on 21 December 2016 in order to become the new Head of Development & Community Relations at Sellafield Ltd, where he had worked before becoming a politician. He was a critic of the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a reportedly unpopular politician in the constituency. Reed's resignation took effect on 23 January 2017. The election was held with the Conservatives considerably ahead of Labour in national opinion polls. Copeland and Whitehaven, the predecessor seat, had been represented by Labour since 1935. Although Reed supported remaining within the European Union, his constituency voted to leave in the June 2016 EU referendum. Because the constituency is not coterminous with any local authority, the exact result is unknown. Chris Hanretty, a Reader in Politics at the University of East Anglia, estimated through a demographic model that in Copeland, 60% of voters voted 'Leave'.


Candidates


Labour

Gillian Troughton, a Borough and County Councillor, was selected as the Labour Party candidate on 19 January. During the EU referendum, Troughton had been an active Remain campaigner. The short list to be Labour's candidate, announced on 12 January, had included Barbara Cannon, a former Borough and County Councillor, Rachel Holliday, founder of Calderwood House hostel, and Troughton. Long-listed candidates had included Thomas Docherty, who was the MP for
Dunfermline and West Fife Dunfermline and West Fife is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election from all of the old Dunfermline West and parts of the old Dunfermlin ...
from 2010-5 and had previously applied to be the Copeland candidate, before losing to Reed. Andrew Gwynne, shadow cabinet minister without portfolio, was Labour's campaign manager.


Conservatives

On 25 January, Trudy Harrison was selected as the party's candidate. Harrison lives locally in the village of Bootle and has worked at Sellafield. The Conservatives highlighted lower unemployment locally and improved standards in local schools. Possible Conservative candidate choices had included Stephen Haraldsen, their candidate in 2015, and Chris Whiteside, a former parliamentary candidate and their candidate in the 2015 Copeland mayoral election.


UK Independence Party

The UK Independence Party's (UKIP) West Cumbria branch selected Fiona Mills as their candidate, a local National Health Service (NHS) worker, member of UKIP's National Executive Committee and county chairwoman, who had stood as the party's candidate in
Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
in the 2015 general election. UKIP leader
Paul Nuttall Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who served as Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, and ...
ruled himself out of standing in this by-election, initially to focus on a potential by-election in
Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...
, then to contest the Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election.


Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrat candidate was confirmed on 12 January 2017 as Cockermouth Town Councillor, Rebecca Hanson. She highlighted Brexit and the NHS.


Green Party

On 24 January 2017, the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
announced Jack Lenox, a local software engineer, as their candidate for the by-election. Given the party's opposition to nuclear power and the importance of the nuclear industry in the constituency, their campaign attracted more publicity than normal. They also said that their candidate would be contesting an "anti-nuclear and anti-poverty campaign".


Independents

Two independent candidates also stood. Copeland borough and Whitehaven town councillor Michael Guest announced his candidacy on 31 January, saying he was aiming to represent people "dissatisfied with party politics". Whitehaven market stallholder Roy Ivinson, who also submitted nomination papers, had previously stood for seats in the area on a platform of stopping global warming.


Campaign

An early issue in the campaign was plans to downgrade maternity services at
West Cumberland Hospital West Cumberland Hospital is a hospital in Hensingham, a suburb of Whitehaven in Cumbria, England, and was the first district general hospital to be built in England following the creation of the National Health Service. It is managed by the Nort ...
in Whitehaven. The plans were defended by the Conservative Prime Minister, Theresa May. In response to Labour criticism, the Conservative campaign said that decisions about local hospitals were the responsibility of the local NHS trust. Trade unions claimed that government cuts to Sellafield's employee pension scheme could "threaten the Conservatives' chances of winning the by-election". The Conservatives focused on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his long-standing opposition to nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. The constituency contains the
Sellafield Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...
nuclear decommissioning plant and nuclear submarines are built in nearby
Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...
, and Conservative election literature highlighted the potential risks to the Cumbrian economy of Labour policies. Labour campaigners responded that the views of party leader Corbyn do not represent the views of the party. The Conservatives also campaigned on a pro- Brexit line, suggesting that voting Conservative would ensure that Brexit is delivered, whereas voting Labour would encourage Labour to "ignore and forget ... the EU referendum". It was reported that the Labour candidate had refused requests for interviews from Channel 4, whilst all other major candidates had accepted the request. A storm, named Doris, hit the constituency on polling day, which some commentators suggested might reduce turnout, though in the event the turnout was relatively high for a Westminster by-election.


2015 result


See also

*
List of United Kingdom by-elections (2010–present) This is a list of parliamentary by-elections in the United Kingdom since 2010, with the names of the incumbent and victor and their respective parties. Where seats changed political party at the election, the result is highlighted: blue for a Co ...


References


External links


Webpage for the Conservative candidate, Trudy Harrison

Webpage for the Liberal Democrat campaign

Webpage for the Labour campaign
{{By-elections to the 56th UK Parliament 2017 elections in the United Kingdom 2017 in England By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Cumbria constituencies February 2017 events in the United Kingdom 2010s in Cumbria