Keir Starmer celebrated another by-election victory today saying: “People are fed up of 12 years of Tory failure, it's time for a Labour government.”
The party chief was bathing in the success of triumph at the Stretford and Urmston ballot in Greater Manchester.
He tweeted: “Congratulations to Andrew Western Labour’s new MP for Stretford and Urmston. Andrew, I look forward to working with you.
“The message from Stretford and Urmston is clear.”
Bitterly cold conditions on polling day and the expectation of an easy Labour hold contributed to turnout of just 25.8%.
Winning candidate Mr Western, who secured a majority of 9,906 and 10.5% swing from the Tories, said the result sent a "strong message" to Rishi Sunak's Government.
He added: "The people of Stretford and Urmston do not just speak for this constituency but for millions more people up and down the land who know that this government has been letting us down for the past 12 years.”
Polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice said the Tories would "definitely lose" the next election if the 10.5% swing was repeated.
He said Labour would still be "somewhat short" of an overall majority in the Commons based on the swing alone - but added the seat was already a safe red one so a huge swing was always unlikely.
He told the BBC : "If you take Stretford and Chester together, they basically are consistent with the evidence of the opinion polls.
"[That] is Labour are now in a stronger position than they have been at any point since David Cameron first walked through 10 Downing Street as prime minister in 2010.
Tory peer and pollster Lord Hayward said it was “disappointing but not bad for the Conservatives, pleasing for the Labour Party ”.
He insisted people could read “very little” into the result because people cast protest votes at by-elections and the Chester swing was bigger.
But he warned local Tory MPs “will be feeling anxious because of problems in terms of local elections that have been going on for several years.
“There's been a trend away from the conservatives in that belt of south south and west Manchester.”
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour's Kate Green, who formally quit as an MP last month to become Andy Burnham’s Deputy Metro Mayor of Greater Manchester.
