Labour overturns 18,000 Tory majority to win Wellingborough byelection

Gen Kitchen takes seat for party for first time since 2001 general election to temper fears after testing week

Labour has scored its largest swing in a byelection since 1994 after overturning a majority of more than 18,000 in Wellingborough, bolstering predictions that the party is on course for a landslide victory at the next general election.

Labour's candidate, Gen Kitchen, won with 13,844 votes, beating the Conservatives' Helen Harrison who received 7,408 votes in the largest swing from the Tories to Labour since 1994 and second-largest since the second world war. It was Labour's fifth byelection gain from the Conservatives overall in this parliament. The party also gained a Tory seat in Kingswood, dealing a double blow to an embattled Conservative party that has lost 10 byelections in a single parliament, more than any government since the 1960s.