The Tories have given Labour a thumping in the Desborough by-election (Image: Getty)

       The Conservative Party has given Sir Keir Starmer's Labour a thumping in a by-election in Northamptonshire.

       Jason Smithers, the Tory leader of North Northamptonshire Council, hailed the victory in the Desborough by-election as an "excellent" result for the local party.

       According to Britain Elects the Conservatives gained 47.3 percent of the vote, a 7.5 percentage point rise, against Labour's 33.6 percent (a six percent rise). The Greens won 11.7 percent and the Lib Dems 7.4 percent.

       Conservative candidate Bill McElhinney polled 1,485 votes, beating Labour's Rikki Tod into second place with 1,054 votes.

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       The by-election was called after the death of Cllr Mike Tebbutt.

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       Mr Smithers wrote on X: "Excellent results for the local conservative group. It was a well-run campaign and a fantastic turnout.

       "It's clear by this result the good people of Desborough believe in the Conservatives and came out in support to send a clear message that Labour is not welcomed locally."

       Both Labour and the Tories had hit the campaign trail hard, according to the Northamptonshire Telegraph, with Labour's general election candidate for Kettering, Rosie Wrighting, spearheading their campaign.

       She told the same publication: "We might not have won, but seeing this big swing in one of the most rural wards in our constituency gives us really good hope going into the general election."

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       Rishi Sunak has received a bit of good news from Northamptonshire (Image: Getty)

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       News of the Conservative victory comes at the end of a week in which the party was confronted by dire polling, showing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on course to suffer a general election defeat similar to the Conservatives' 1997 wipeout.

       YouGov polling found Labour would win 403 seats across the UK, leading to a 154-seat majority in the House of Commons.

       The Conservatives would win 155 seats, down from the 365 seats they won at the 2019 general election.

       The analysis, which uses the multi-level regression and poststratification (MRP) method of polling, found prominent Tory figures including Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg would be on course to lose their seats.

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       Asked by The Sun newspaper's Never Mind the Ballots programme about the Conservatives' drop in the polls, Mr Sunak said: "It has been a frustrating time and I completely appreciate that. There's going to be lots of polls. What matters is the general election and that's what I'm focusing on."

       Meanwhile, election experts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have said the Tories "stand to lose up to 500 seats" in May's local elections, which would represent around half of their councillors facing election.

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