Boris Johnson pledged to "keep going" after a disastrous night for the Conservative Party saw them lose two seats in by-elections.
The traditional Tory stronghold of Tiverton, Devon, was won by the Liberal Democrats, while Labour reclaimed the Wakefield 'red wall' seat in Yorkshire they lost in 2019. The results led to Conservative Party chairman, Oliver Dowden, stepping down from his role. He told Mr Johnson that “someone must take responsibility”.
Mr Johnson, speaking to broadcasters 4,000 miles away in Rwanda, where he is at a Commonwealth summit, thanked Mr Dowden for his “excellent” service in the role.
Read more: Double by-election blow for Boris Johnson
The Prime Minister said he would take responsibility, but stressed the cost of living crisis was the most important thing for voters, saying it is “true that in mid-term governments post-war lose by-elections”.
“It’s absolutely true we’ve had some tough by-election results, they’ve been, I think, a reflection of a lot of things, but we’ve got to recognise voters are going through a tough time at the moment,” he said at a conference centre in Kigali.
“I think as a Government I’ve got to listen to what people are saying – in particular to the difficulties people are facing over the cost of living, which I think for most people is the number one issue.
“We’re now facing pressures on the cost of living, we’re seeing spikes in fuel prices, energy costs, food costs – that’s hitting people.
“We’ve got to recognise there is more we’ve got to do and we certainly will, we will keep going addressing the concerns of people until we get through this patch.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said the Tiverton and Honiton by-election result - which saw the Liberal Democrats overturn a 24,000 majority shows “Boris Johnson really must be pushed out”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party’s by-election victory in Wakefield shows the Conservatives are “out of touch, out of ideas and if they had any decency they would get out of the way for the sake of the country”.
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