British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised this Friday that he will “listen” to voters and that he will “continue” despite the defeat of the Conservative Party in two parliamentary by-elections, in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, for the opposition parties.
Speaking to reporters in Rwanda, where he is at a Commonwealth meeting, recognized the “difficult results”which he attributed to inflation and the impact on the price of energy, fuel and food.
I think as a government I have to listen to what people are saying, particularly the difficulties that people are facing in terms of the cost of living, which I think for most people is the number one problem,” he said.
The conservative leader, who the day before had considered it “absurd” to resign due to the mid-term elections, promised to do more and continue: “taking into account the concerns of the people until we overcome this bad moment.”
However, Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden has resigned, saying the two defeats are “the latest in a series of very poor results for the party”.
British Conservative Party chairman resigns after ‘very bad’ election results
“Our militants are angry and disappointed by recent events, and I share their sentiments. We cannot continue business as usual. Someone has to take responsibility,” he writes in a letter to Johnson.
In Wakefield, the Labor Party regained a seat it had lost to the Tories in 2019 by taking 47.9% of the vote, compared to 30% for the Conservative Party.
“Today, the people of Wakefield spoke for the British people. They firmly said: Boris Johnson, your disrespect for this country is no longer tolerated.”
For ‘Labour’ leader Keir Starmer, the result in the North of England constituency “showed that the country lost confidence in conservatives” and claimed this result as a “clear verdict on a Conservative Party that has run out of energy and ideas”.
But it was in Tiverton and Honiton, in the south-west of England, that the fragility of the Conservative Party was exposed, where it lost to the Liberal Democrats, who won 52.9% of the vote, 38% more than three years ago.
The Conservative Party, which had obtained 60% of the votes in 2019, stood at 38.5%.
MP-elect Richard Foord warned “Conservative MPs who continue to support the weak Prime Minister”.
“Liberal Democrats are coming,” said Richard Foord.
“If they don’t take action to restore British decency, respect and values to Downing Street, they also risk electoral defeats of the kind we’ve seen here,” he said.
Lib Dems leader Ed Davey has affirmed the biggest electoral change in British history and reiterated his resignation for Boris Johnson.
“The people of Tiverton and Honiton spoke for the country. the people are already fed up with the lies and contempt for the law of Boris Johnson and it is time for Conservative MPs to finally do the right thing and fire him,” he said.
Boris Johnson survived an internal motion of no confidence in early June by winning 59% of the Party MPs’ vote, with rules stating that a new motion cannot be repeated within 12 months.
Source: Observadora
