UK Conservative Party Scores ‘Historic’ By-election Win Against Labour

People walk past a giant inflatable representation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside the Mill House Leisure Centre where the count process for the Parliamentary By-election is taking place in Hartlepool, England, on May 7, 2021. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

Britain’s ruling Conservative Party scored a major victory on Friday when it won the parliamentary seat for Hartlepool, a traditional Labour stronghold, for the first time since it was created almost 50 years ago.

Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer took the seat, which had been Labour-held since it was formed in 1974, with a majority of 6,940.