THE Conservative MP for Salisbury has said he believes the two by-election defeats for his party "reflect legacy issues in both seats". 

In the space of 30 minutes in the early hours of Friday morning the Conservatives lost Tamworth – which it held with a majority of 19,634 in 2019 – and then Mid Bedfordshire, where there had been a massive 24,664 vote cushion.

Mr Glen told the Journal: “I am disappointed for the hardworking candidates, but I think it reflects legacy issues in both seats.

“The important thing now is to focus on bringing inflation down and helping ordinary people with cost of living challenges.”

Mid Bedfordshire had been Tory since 1931 and it was the biggest Conservative majority overturned by Labour at a by-election since 1945.

In Tamworth, two-thirds of the vote went to the Conservatives in 2019.

Labour described the chances of winning either as a “moon shot”.

Sir Keir Starmer said his party "has made history", and claimed Labour was “redrawing the political map” by taking seats which had been comfortably Conservative, ahead of the general election expected next year.