LONDON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Britain's governing Conservative Party suffered defeats on Friday by losing two parliamentary seats in crucial by-elections just a year before the next general election.
In Selby and Ainsty in northern Yorkshire, Labour's 25-year-old candidate Keir Mather won the seat with a majority of 4,161 votes. He has become the youngest MP in the House of Commons.
The minority Liberal Democrats regained the Somerton and Frome seat in southwest England, which the party lost to the Conservatives in 2015. Their candidate Sarah Dyke won with a comfortable majority of 11,008 votes.
At the same time, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives retained the House of Commons seat previously held by Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, until his recent resignation. However, Steve Tuckwell won in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency only by a narrow margin of 495 votes. By comparison, Johnson won this seat in the 2019 general election with a majority of 7,210 votes.
The by-elections were called after Johnson and two of his Conservative colleagues had resigned from their seats.
Commenting on the results, Professor Iain Begg, a political expert from the London School of Economics and Political Science, told Xinhua that the by-elections provide glimmers of hope for all three parties.
"The Conservatives will welcome the fact that they were not beaten in Boris Johnson's old constituency because that was probably the most vulnerable seat."
As for next year's general election, Begg said, "I don't think yesterday's results greatly influence what will happen next year ... I don't think we should overread what happened yesterday." ■
