After narrow by-election loss, UK opposition’s Labour leader Starmer says still a long way to power

LONDON - The failure of Britain’s Labour Party to take former prime minister Boris Johnson’s old parliamentary seat in an election this week shows the opposition party still has a long way to go to win power, leader Keir Starmer said on Saturday.

Labour won a once-safe Conservative parliamentary seat in northern England on the same day, but the narrow loss in Uxbridge and South Ruislip has

given Prime Minister Rishi Sunak some breathing space

as he seeks to reduce Labour’s large poll lead before a national election expected in 2024.

“If anyone needed reminding that there’s still a long way to go, Uxbridge is the reminder,” Mr Starmer said in a speech at Labour’s National Policy Forum. “That result in Uxbridge demonstrates there is never any reason to be complacent.”

He said on Friday that

the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez)

, planned for August by London Mayor Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party, had been decisive in his party’s candidate not winning in Uxbridge.

For his part, Mr Khan said the policy to expand Ulez remained the right one.

The Conservatives made attacking the flagship anti-pollution policy central to their campaign.

The Ulez expansion has

triggered a fierce debate

across the city, pitching the mayor and health campaigners against those who say they cannot tolerate another economic hit at a time of soaring living costs.

“In an election, policy matters,” Mr Starmer said on Saturday. “We are doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on each and every Tory (Conservative) leaflet. We’ve got to face up to that and to learn the lesson.

“We’ve got to ask ourselves seriously – are our priorities the priorities of working people, or are they just baggage that shows them we don’t see the country through their eyes?” REUTERS