Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives on Friday suffered two crushing UK parliamentary by-election defeats but averted a “3-0” drubbing by unexpectedly holding on to Boris Johnson’s old Uxbridge seat.

The grave problems facing the British prime minister were highlighted when the opposition Labour party secured its biggest-ever by-election win in the once-safe Tory seat of Selby and Ainsty in Yorkshire.

Earlier the centrist Liberal Democrats demolished a massive Tory majority to win the seat of Somerton and Frome, opening up a dangerous new front for Sunak in the Tory heartlands of England’s South West.

  • FatLegTed@feddit.uk
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    1 year ago

    He (Boris) is to blame for so many things. Fickle willfully ignorant voters can’t see past today’s headlines.

    • TheHalc@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      I actually don’t really think it’s a terrible idea, no matter where it came from. Air quality in London is way better than it used to be, but still not good enough.

      I know it’s mostly from the tube, but I always think of the black bogeys I’d get whenever I visited London as a child. My parents told me about how bad the smog was when they lived there in the 60s and 70s.

      • FatLegTed@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        Oops! I meant Boris!

        Will edit to reflect that.

        The air is cleaner, and there’s less traffic. Underground was terrible when I was a kidd.

      • mackwinston@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        I remember my eyes watering on a warm day in London due to the pollution and the general stink of the pollution (during the summer a temperature inversion that keeps it capped in will worsen it). I recently visited London during a hot spell and it was remarkable how pleasant the air was in central London. The ULEZ and congestion charges have made London such a better place to be.