Labour concedes Hartlepool is all-but lost as Tories set for victory

Votes are still counted in Hartlepool but Labour has admitted they’re not even ‘close’ to winning (Picture: PA)

Labour has all but conceded defeat in the Hartlepool by-election in what will be a major blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Votes are still being counted across the constituency that has voted Labour since its inception in the 1970s.

But Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon, who led the Opposition party’s campaign to hold the North East town, admitted it looked clear the party has ‘not got over the line’ just after 3am this morning.

He told Sky News: ‘It is pretty clear in the way the ballots are landing that we are not close to winning this despite our best endeavours.

‘We haven’t got over the line, that’s quite clear from the ballots.’

Labour sources added they feared they had lost to blue candidate Jill Mortimer ‘by miles’, as Tory insiders said they believed they could win by ‘a majority of several thousand’.

Hartlepool was held by Labour with a majority of 3,595 in 2019 – but much of the ‘red wall’ crumbled as heartlands fell to the Conservatives.

Early results suggest Labour could be set to take hits elsewhere across the country.

People walk past a giant inflatable representation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside the Mill House Leisure Centre where the count process for the Hartlepool Parliamentary By-election is taking place (Picture: Getty Images Europe)

Election officials in face masks wait for ballot boxes to arrive (Picture: PA)

The Tories seized Redditch and Nuneaton & Bedworth councils in the Midlands from Labour, along with Harlow in Essex, while Sir Keir’s party saw heavy losses across North East local authorities.

A Labour source said the politician, who promised to turn the party into a winning one after Jeremy Corbyn’s defeat in the 2019 election, would take responsibility for these results.

They said: ‘We’ve said all along the North East and the Midlands would be difficult. We also said the places declaring Thursday would be particularly difficult.

‘But the message from voters is clear and we have heard it – Labour has not yet changed nearly enough for voters to place their trust in us.

‘We understand that. We are listening. And we will now redouble our efforts.

‘Labour must now accelerate the programme of change in our party, to win back the trust and faith of working people across Britain.

‘People don’t want to hear excuses. Keir has said he will take responsibility for these results – and he will take responsibility for fixing it and changing the Labour Party for the better.’

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