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2021 Hartlepool by-election
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2021 Hartlepool by-election
A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Hartlepool was held on 6 May 2021, triggered by the resignation of incumbent Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) Mike Hill, who stood down over allegations of sexual harassment. It was won by Jill Mortimer of the Conservative Party with 51.9% of the vote and a swing of 16%—the largest ever swing towards an incumbent governing party in recorded UK by-electoral history.
This was the first by-election of the 2019–2024 parliament. The 21-month gap between the last by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire in August 2019 and the polling day of the by-election in Hartlepool was the longest since the Second World War; this was partially attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hartlepool, named after the town of the same name, had been held by the Labour Party since 1964. The seat includes the town of Hartlepool itself and the nearby villages of Hart, Elwick, Greatham, Newton Bewley and Dalton Piercy.
In the 2016 European Union membership referendum, the Hartlepool Council area, which covers the same area as the constituency, voted 69.6% to 30.4% to leave the European Union (EU). The seat is part of the "red wall", a set of constituencies in the northern half of England that historically supported the Labour Party but where the party has been challenged by increasing Conservative support.
Hill was due to face an employment tribunal later in the year following allegations of sexual harassment and victimisation. He was suspended from the Labour Party in September 2019 over allegations of sexual harassment, but reinstated in October 2019. In January 2020, Hill's request for anonymity was turned down in an upcoming employment tribunal related to the accusations. The alleged victim stated that she had also made a report to the Metropolitan Police at the time of the original accusations. On 16 March 2021, Hill announced his resignation with immediate effect, triggering the by-election.
There were sixteen candidates, the most for any UK Commons by-election since Haltemprice & Howden in 2008. The full list was published on 8 April 2021.
NHS doctor and former MP Paul Williams was selected as the Labour candidate on 18 March. Williams represented the nearby constituency of Stockton South but lost his seat at the 2019 election. He had been standing for the position of Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner, to be elected in May 2021, but withdrew from that contest in order to stand in Hartlepool.
On 17 March, Reform UK leader Richard Tice, who contested the seat in 2019, told LBC that the party intended to stand a candidate. On 31 March, the party selected businessman John Prescott (no relation to the former deputy prime minister of the same name) as their candidate. He was the party's candidate for Stockton South in the 2019 election, under its previous name of the Brexit Party.
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2021 Hartlepool by-election
A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Hartlepool was held on 6 May 2021, triggered by the resignation of incumbent Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) Mike Hill, who stood down over allegations of sexual harassment. It was won by Jill Mortimer of the Conservative Party with 51.9% of the vote and a swing of 16%—the largest ever swing towards an incumbent governing party in recorded UK by-electoral history.
This was the first by-election of the 2019–2024 parliament. The 21-month gap between the last by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire in August 2019 and the polling day of the by-election in Hartlepool was the longest since the Second World War; this was partially attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hartlepool, named after the town of the same name, had been held by the Labour Party since 1964. The seat includes the town of Hartlepool itself and the nearby villages of Hart, Elwick, Greatham, Newton Bewley and Dalton Piercy.
In the 2016 European Union membership referendum, the Hartlepool Council area, which covers the same area as the constituency, voted 69.6% to 30.4% to leave the European Union (EU). The seat is part of the "red wall", a set of constituencies in the northern half of England that historically supported the Labour Party but where the party has been challenged by increasing Conservative support.
Hill was due to face an employment tribunal later in the year following allegations of sexual harassment and victimisation. He was suspended from the Labour Party in September 2019 over allegations of sexual harassment, but reinstated in October 2019. In January 2020, Hill's request for anonymity was turned down in an upcoming employment tribunal related to the accusations. The alleged victim stated that she had also made a report to the Metropolitan Police at the time of the original accusations. On 16 March 2021, Hill announced his resignation with immediate effect, triggering the by-election.
There were sixteen candidates, the most for any UK Commons by-election since Haltemprice & Howden in 2008. The full list was published on 8 April 2021.
NHS doctor and former MP Paul Williams was selected as the Labour candidate on 18 March. Williams represented the nearby constituency of Stockton South but lost his seat at the 2019 election. He had been standing for the position of Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner, to be elected in May 2021, but withdrew from that contest in order to stand in Hartlepool.
On 17 March, Reform UK leader Richard Tice, who contested the seat in 2019, told LBC that the party intended to stand a candidate. On 31 March, the party selected businessman John Prescott (no relation to the former deputy prime minister of the same name) as their candidate. He was the party's candidate for Stockton South in the 2019 election, under its previous name of the Brexit Party.
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