The Conservatives have won a council seat in Middlesbrough, usually considered a Labour stronghold, sparking a row among MPs about whether Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership is undermining support in the party’s heartlands.

Conservative candidate Jacob Young took the seat of Coulby Newham, with 38% of the vote, up 8.3% since 2015, while Labour saw its share fall by 8.2%, to 35.5%.

Single council byelections are rarely scrutinised, but the loss of the seat came after many MPs went out canvassing, and amid fears that Labour is set for a tough night in the council and mayoral elections on 4 May.

Tom Blenkinsop, the MP for South Middlesbrough and Cleveland, whose constituency contains Coulby Newhham, suggested Corbyn’s “far left” leadership had been a factor.

So sorry for @UKLabour candidate Annalise Higgins @anna1ise

in #CoulbyNewham.



Let down by the far left. As ever. Time for new leadership. — Tom Blenkinsop (@TomBlenkinsop) April 13, 2017

In May 2015, #CoulbyNewham elected a Labour MP,with a larger maj, 3 labour Cllrs and a labour Mayor.

What has changed since? — Tom Blenkinsop (@TomBlenkinsop) April 14, 2017

But neighbouring MP Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary, dismissed Blenkinsop’s claim. “Jeremy was on Teesside to campaign a couple of weeks ago, and he got an absolutely fabulous reaction,” he said.

Asked about the loss of the seat, he said, “I am loth to read too much into that. We know that the Tory party ploughed an awful lot of effort into that. They thought they were in with a chance to win it.”

He said the Conservatives would be unable to replicate such an intense campaign when all the council’s seats are up for grabs in two years’ time. “I would expect us to win it back,” he said.



A Labour source said: “Labour has held or gained more seats in council byelections this year than it has lost, including gaining a seat from the Tories and another from Ukip. The Middlesbrough byelection was very close – only 33 votes separated Labour and the Conservatives – and the turnout was extremely low, making it difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions. However, voters don’t like divided parties, public attacks and infighting. Unity is essential to delivering effective opposition.”

Corbyn and his shadow cabinet colleagues have announced a blizzard of policies over the past fortnight, with the latest being a pledge to legislate to prevent banks from closing local branches.



McDonald said: “We know that the policies are playing well; but we have still got some cut-through to make in terms of reputation, and confidence, and competence.”

Other MPs report that Corbyn’s leadership is a factor raised by voters on the doorstep. Jess Phillips, the MP for Birmingham Yardley, who has been campaigning for Labour’s candidate in the West Midlands mayoralty, said: “There isn’t a canvassing session where someone doesn’t say, ‘I’ve voted Labour all my life, but I can’t vote for you at the moment because of Jeremy Corbyn’.”

Labour is battling on multiple fronts in May’s elections, which include local councils in England, Scotland and Wales, as well as six new regional mayors, and a parliamentary byelection in Gerald Kaufman’s seat of Gorton, in Greater Manchester.

The Conservatives hope to steal the West Midlands mayoralty; the SNP hopes to drive Labour out of town halls across Scotland; while the Liberal Democrats, who have staged a revival in council byelections in recent months, are fighting hard in Gorton.

The Lib Dems regard it as a key test of whether they can win support back from Labour in remain-voting areas. Speaking in Gorton on Thursday night, the party leader, Tim Farron, told activists they could snatch the seat – despite having to overturn a 24,000 majority in a seat where Labour won 67% of the vote in 2015.

Suggesting such a result could change the direction of British politics, Farron said: “We are the only people who are basically saying we could stop Brexit, democratically – certainly a hard Brexit. We are serious about power, we think what the country desperately needs is an electable alternative to the Tories. There isn’t anybody else, why shouldn’t it be us?

“We know that’s talking big, I understand the ridicule that will be thrown at me for saying those things, but if you don’t want to run the country, what are you doing in politics?”

In December last year, the Lib Dems gained a ninth MP when Sarah Olney won a shock victory in a by-election in Richmond Park – a heavily pro-remain constituency. That followed a strong Lib Dem performance in the Witney by-election in October, when there was a swing of nearly 25% to the party, following David Cameron’s resignation as an MP.