Theresa May: Copeland victory shows Tories are governing for everyone

Theresa May has claimed the Conservative byelection victory in Copeland shows her party is governing for every part of the country, as she signalled an intention to challenge Labour in its northern heartlands.

Visiting the Cumbrian constituency for a victory speech, the prime minister said it was an astounding result and a “wonderful victory for the Conservative party and also the people of Copeland”.

May delivered the message alongside Trudy Harrison, Copeland’s first Conservative MP since 1935 and the first government candidate to win a byelection against an opposition party since 1982.

Surrounded by cheering activists, May said the victory was down to her leadership of a “government that is working for everyone and for every part of the country”, indicating that she aims to break the electoral dominance of Labour in northern England and in cities.

“The people of Copeland are going to see that they have elected an MP who will listen to concerns, who is going to raise her voice, she will have the ear of government, but she is going to make sure she delivers for Copeland,” May said.

“The Conservative party is going to deliver for everyone across the whole country; a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.”

Later, May went on the offensive against Corbyn’s influence on Labour councils, signalling that the Tories are likely to use this line of attack at the local elections in May.

She claimed that Labour councillors “dance to the tune of the militant unions and Momentum’s hard-left activists, facing threats of candidate deselection if they don’t”.

There is no evidence of local Labour councils being taken over by far-left entryists, with many of the party’s local government leaders considered to be from the opposite wing of the party.

But in a speech on Friday at the Conservative Councillors’ Association conference in Broughton, Lincolnshire, the prime minister said: “Last year, Labour’s deputy leader warned of entryism in Labour by the far left. This year, even the Stalinists in Momentum are complaining about being infiltrated by the Trotskyites.

“But for those of us who remember what Militant did to Liverpool, it doesn’t matter what term you use – we can’t allow Labour to get a foothold back in local government and let them do for local communities what they did to our country.”

The byelection has fuelled fresh speculation that May could be tempted to hold an early general election, which polls suggest would lead to a large Conservative majority.

However, this was dismissed by Patrick McLoughlin, the party chair, who said May was focused on “getting on with the job” and Britain would have her record of the next three years by which to judge her in 2020.

The Conservatives took the seat with 44% of the vote against Labour’s 37%, reversing the constituency’s 2015 general election result.

It has caused intense worry among Labour strategists about the party losing ground to the government among its core voters.

Theo Bertram, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, warned in a blogpost that working-class voters were deserting Labour.

“Labour’s core vote rises and falls, but the drop in Labour’s working-class support in the past 18 months has been catastrophic,” he wrote. “Jeremy Corbyn may claim to represent the working class, but they do not agree. Under his leadership, working-class support for Labour is down to 23 points – the lowest it has ever been.”

He also observed that while “David Cameron put off working-class voters, Theresa May does not”.