Theresa May's Conservatives gain parliamentary seat as rivals suffer election setbacks

British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives secured a landmark victory in a parliamentary by-election on Friday, boosting her hand ahead of upcoming Brexit negotiations as her rivals suffered damaging poll setbacks.

The Conservatives captured the north western region of Copeland that Labour have held since 1935, the first by-election gain for a governing party for 35 years and a result which piles pressure on the opposition's under-fire socialist leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Tory candidate Trudy Harrison won with 13,748 votes, to Labour’s Gillian Troughton’s 11,601 in Copeland, an increase in the Tory vote share of more than 8%.

Meanwhile in the central English seat of Stoke-on-Trent, Paul Nuttall, leader of the populist anti-EU UK Independence Party, failed to overturn a Labour majority despite almost 70% of the city's voters backing leaving the bloc at last year's referendum.

Nuttall got 5,233 votes, while Labour’s Gareth Snell received 7,853 votes.

Labour had held both seats since their creation but was forced to defend them when two former frontbenchers, Tristram Hunt and Jamie Reed, resigned as MPs.

The Copeland result confirmed Prime Minister Theresa May’s dominance of the British political scene since last year’s Brexit vote, while Mr Corbyn struggles to hold together a party deeply split on the question of Europe.