The Conservatives have held on to the safe seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup following yesterday’s by-election, but both main parties will come away with reason for cheer — and cause for concern.
For the Tories, they can point to winning more than half of the vote despite mid-term blues. As for Labour, they cut the Conservative majority from nearly 19,000 to under 5,000, with a swing of 10.3 per cent.
Yet both will be mindful of taking too much succour from one result. Boris Johnson may note with dismay the third-place finish for Reform UK, which could take votes to his Right at a general election.
Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, knows he has far further to go in convincing the public that he leads a government in waiting.
Football failings
In a damning report, Baroness Louise Casey condemned the violence that permeated the Euro 2020 final as a “source of national shame”. She is right.
The report reveals unacceptable levels of abuse, drunkenness and drug-taking. We should call the events of July 11 what they were: lawlessness. The failure is a shared one — between fans, the FA and police, who clearly should have intervened sooner.
The grim reality is that it could have been so much worse. England lost a football match but far more importantly no one lost their lives. Lessons must be learned so that nothing like this is allowed to happen again.
