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Stoke and Copeland by-elections: Votes being counted Stoke and Copeland by-elections: Labour holds Stoke
(about 2 hours later)
Votes are being counted in the Parliamentary by-elections in Stoke-on-Trent Central and Copeland. Labour has held Stoke-on-Trent Central in a Parliamentary by-election, seeing off a challenge from UKIP.
Labour is defending both seats after former frontbenchers Tristram Hunt and Jamie Reed resigned. Gareth Snell was elected with 7,853 votes ahead of UKIP leader Paul Nuttall on 5,233 votes.
It has not lost either seat since their creation but faces challenges from the Conservatives and UKIP. Votes continue to be counted in Copeland, where the Conservative Party is hoping for the first by-election gain by a governing party since 1982.
Results are expected to be announced between 03:00 GMT and 04:00. Voter turnout was low in Stoke at 38% but 51.35% in Copeland. Labour has held both seats since their creation. The by-elections were sparked by the resignations of two MPs.
'Hope over fear'
In Stoke-on-Trent, UKIP had hoped to capitalise on voters' leanings towards Brexit - the area voted strongly to leave the EU in June.
But in his victory speech, Mr Snell said voters had "chosen the politics of hope over the politics of fear".
"This city will not allow ourselves to be defined by last year's referendum and we will not allow ourselves to be divided by the result," he said.
He said the result was "a victory for the whole Labour Party and Labour movement".
But Labour's share of the vote was 37% - slightly down on the 39.3% it got in 2015.
'More to come'
UKIP got 24.7% of the vote and the Conservatives 24.4% - both slightly higher than their 2015 vote shares.
The Conservative candidate, Jack Brereton, came third with 5,154 votes.
Speaking to journalists after the result, Mr Nuttall said UKIP was "not going anywhere" and insisted the party's "time would come".
"There's a lot more to come from us," he said.
"We are not going anywhere, I'm not going anywhere."
Stoke-on-Trent Central results in full
Gareth Snell, Labour 7,853
Paul Nuttall, UKIP 5,233
Jack Brereton, Conservative 5,154
Zulfiqar Ali Lib Dems, 2,083
Adam Colclough, Greens, 294
Barbara Fielding, Independent, 137
The Incredible Flying Brick, Official Monster Raving Loony Party, 127
David Furness, British National Party Local People First, 124
Godfrey Davies Christian People's Alliance, 109
Mohammed Akram, Independent, 56
Voter turnout was low in Stoke at 38% but 51.35% in the west Cumbrian seat of Copeland.
Polling day coincided with Storm Doris hitting the country with heavy rain and strong winds.Polling day coincided with Storm Doris hitting the country with heavy rain and strong winds.
BBC Newsnight political editor Nick Watt said the two by-election results would be scrutinised for signs of how the Labour leader was performing in areas that voted to leave the EU in last year's referendum. Speaking before the result was announced, UKIP's sole MP Douglas Carswell told BBC One's Question Time: "Stoke is not even within our top 50 target seats.
'Most likely' "It's been a Labour-voting constituency since 1950, if we were to win it would be such an earthquake it would be akin to the great Spen Valley by-election of 1919 which marked the demise of the old Liberal Party."
He said in Stoke-on-Trent, where UKIP leader Paul Nuttall is hoping to capitalise on the Brexit vote, Labour felt they might just win, but in Copeland, where the Conservatives came second in 2015 and where the nuclear industry has been a big issue during the campaign, they were more nervous. Labour's majority in Stoke has been decreasing in recent years, from 19,924 in 1997 to 5,179 in 2015.
UKIP's sole MP Douglas Carswell told BBC One's Question Time he thought it was "most likely that Labour will hold the seat" in Stoke. Both Mr Snell and Mr Nuttall had tough moments during their campaigns, with Mr Snell apologising over old social media posts about women appearing on television and Mr Nuttall facing a backlash over false claims he lost close friends in the Hillsborough tragedy.
He added: "Stoke is not even within our top 50 target seats. It's been a Labour-voting constituency since 1950, if we were to win it would be such an earthquake it would be akin to the great Spen Valley by-election of 1919 which marked the demise of the old Liberal Party." Labour is defending a 2,564 majority in the west Cumbrian seat of Copeland.
Labour is defending a 2,564 majority in the west Cumbrian seat of Copeland, where a Conservative victory would mark the first by-election gain by a governing party since 1982.
Mr Reed, who had been an MP since 2005, resigned to take a job in the nuclear industry. With thousands of people employed in the sector, nuclear power has been a key campaign theme along with warnings about local NHS cuts.Mr Reed, who had been an MP since 2005, resigned to take a job in the nuclear industry. With thousands of people employed in the sector, nuclear power has been a key campaign theme along with warnings about local NHS cuts.
Labour has Gill Troughton as its candidate, a councillor and former doctor and ambulance driver, who is up against Conservative Trudy Harrison, who lives in the village of Bootle and was a parish councillor for a number of years.Labour has Gill Troughton as its candidate, a councillor and former doctor and ambulance driver, who is up against Conservative Trudy Harrison, who lives in the village of Bootle and was a parish councillor for a number of years.
In Stoke, Labour's majority has been decreasing in recent years, from 19,924 in 1997 to 5,179 in 2015.
UKIP is hoping to capitalise on voters' leanings towards Brexit - the area voted strongly to leave the EU in June - and is fielding its leader, Paul Nuttall, against Labour's Gareth Snell.
Both candidates have had tough moments during their campaigns, with Mr Snell apologising over old social media posts about women appearing on television and Mr Nuttall facing a backlash over false claims he lost close friends in the Hillsborough tragedy.
Two UKIP officials from Liverpool and Merseyside branches resigned following the row, saying Mr Nuttall had been "unprofessional" and donor Arron Banks showed "crass insensitivity" in subsequent comments about the disaster.
The Conservatives, who were narrowly forced into third in 2015 by UKIP, are putting forward 25-year-old Jack Brereton. As with Copeland, a Conservative win would be first by-election gain by any government for 35 years.