General Election now calls after latest Labour wins

Thousands of people called for a UK General Election to be called immediately after Labour recorded two "historic" by-election wins in one night. Keir Starmer's party swept to victory in the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections, leading to calls for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call a national poll now.

Scroll down or click here to take our poll .

The victories overnight were the party's second and third gains of the month, after the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency was won from the SNP on October 5. In Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire Labour overturned huge Tory majorities.

Now thousands of people are taking to social media to call for a general election - a call echoed by newly-elected Tamworth MP Sarah Edwards. She said: "My message to the Prime Minister is: get in your Government car, drive to Buckingham Palace, do the decent thing, and call a general election."

Among the most vocal on the topic were, perhaps predictably, Merseyside Labour politicians. Wallasey MP Angela Eagle tweeted simply "Call a General Election NOW - PM has no legitimacy." West Derby MP Ian Byrne was even more to the point as he tweeted "General Election now."

After the results, Sir Keir vowed to "repay" people who lent Labour their vote in the two seats. Appearing alongside winning candidate Alistair Strathern at the Forest Centre & Millennium Country Park near Bedford, Sir Keir said: "What a fantastic candidate... He has not only won here, he's made history here over the past 24 hours. An incredible achievement already."

Sir Keir added: "We know that voters here have voted for us and they've put their trust and their confidence in a changed Labour Party, and we will repay them for that trust and confidence.

Have your say in the poll above - if you can't see the poll click here.

"We do so humbly. And I know there are people yesterday who probably voted Tory in the past who voted for a changed Labour party because they despair at the state of their own party.

"I'm glad that they see that our party is changed and they can put their trust and confidence in them, and I hope that that persuades other voters across the country who may have voted for other parties in the past, that the party of the future, the party of national renewal to reject the decline of the last 13 years, is this changed Labour Party."

Sir Keir claimed Labour was "redrawing the political map" by taking seats which had been comfortably Conservative, ahead of the general election expected next year.

In Tamworth, Labour's Sarah Edwards defeated Tory Andrew Cooper by a majority of 1,316. The Conservatives were defending a 19,634 majority, but a 23.9 percentage point swing to Labour saw that eradicated.

The result, announced shortly after 2.45am, was the second-highest ever by-election swing to Labour. Just half an hour later, there was even better news for Sir Keir as Mid Bedfordshire saw the largest majority overturned by Labour at a by-election since 1945.

The Tories had held Mid Bedfordshire since 1931, with a 24,664 Conservative majority in 2019. But Mr Strathern took the seat with a majority of 1,192 over his Tory rival Festus Akinbusoye, with a swing of 20.5 percentage points to Labour.

Mr Strathern said his victory showed "nowhere is off limits for this Labour Party",

The Liverpool Daily Post newsletter delves into the biggest stories on Merseyside

Get a free National Trust pass worth up to £50 for your family day out this autumn