Sign up to FREE email alerts from the Northern Agenda The Conservatives' historic win in the Hartepool by-election has been described as a "crushing defeat" for Labour and a "disaster" by the left.
Tory candidate Jill Mortimer has taken the seat with a majority of nearly 7,000 votes in a constituency that Labour previously held since it was created in 1974.
Newly elected MP Ms Mortimer described it as a “momentous day” and claimed Labour had taken the town “for granted for too long”.
The North Yorkshire farmer beat Labour candidate Dr Paul Williams, a GP and former MP for Stockton South, with 51.9 per cent of the votes.
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