UK's Conservative Party strikes early blow in elections

Britain’s governing Conservative Party has won a special election in the north of England town of Hartlepool, dealing a big blow to the main opposition Labour Party, which had held the seat since its creation in 1974

LONDON -- Britain's governing Conservative Party has won a special election in the north of England town of Hartlepool, dealing a big blow to the main opposition Labour Party, which had held the parliamentary seat since its creation in 1974. The victory for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's party, announced Friday morning, provides further evidence that the Conservatives are making ground in parts of the country that have been Labour strongholds for decades, managing to present itself as the party of change even though it's been in power for 11 years. Over the coming couple of days, results from an array of elections in Britain will be announced. On what was dubbed Super Thursday, around 50 million voters were eligible to take part in scores of elections, some of which had been postponed a year because of the pandemic that has left the U.K. with Europe’s largest coronavirus death toll. The results of Thursday's election in Hartlepool showed the Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer winning with 15,529 votes, or nearly 52% of the vote. The Labour candidate, Paul Williams, only received 8,589 votes, or around 29% of the vote.