Lewisham East by-election: Labour hold on to London seat as new MP Janet Daby vows to oppose ‘extreme Brexit’

Results see collapse in Conservative vote as remain-backing Lib Dems jump into second place

Janet Daby says result shows 'we will not tolerate an extreme Brexit in Lewisham East' (Janet Daby)

Labour have held the London seat of Lewisham East at a by-election in which anti-Brexit sentiment appears to have played a key role, albeit on a dramatically reduced turnout.

The result sees centrist candidate Janet Daby become the party’s newest MP. She has previously told The Independent she wants to keep Britain in the customs union and single market, a stance which could put her at odds with Jeremy Corbyn.

Labour retained a majority of 5,629, far below the 21,213 won by Heidi Alexander in the 2017 general election. Ms Alexander triggered the by-election when she took a job in City Hall as Sadiq Khan's deputy mayor for transport.

And with just 33 per cent of eligible voters turning out to cast their ballots, the remain-backing Liberal Democrats saw more than a five-fold increase in their vote share, leap-frogging the Conservatives into second place.

Speaking to reporters after the result was declared, Ms Daby said she had found voters in Lewisham still did not want to leave the EU, let alone face a hard Brexit putting up barriers to trade with the rest of Europe.

Her victory showed that "we will not tolerate an extreme Brexit in Lewisham East”, Ms Daby said.

Explaining her experience on the doorstep during the campaign, she said: "One of the ongoing issues is to do with Brexit and people not wanting an extreme Brexit and ideally people not even wanting to leave the EU.

"I will oppose an extreme or a hard Brexit. I will consider people's jobs, the economy and people's rights and that will dictate to me the precedent in how I will conduct myself both within Parliament and out of Parliament."

Ms Daby faced stiff competition to be on the Labour ticket from Lewisham’s powerful branch of the pro-Corbyn movement Momentum. Asked if she would clash with the party leader over Brexit, she pointed out that she had voted for Mr Corbyn at two Labour leadership elections.

“Obviously within politics not everybody will agree on everything,” she said. “For me it's about ensuring that we have as close a relationship to the EU as possible and that's what I'll be arguing for and that's what I'll be putting forward my views on.”

Despite the victory, there will be concerning signs for the party in Ms Daby’s vote share of 50.2 per cent - down from the 67.9 per cent won by Ms Alexander in 2017, when turnout was 69.3 per cent.

The Lib Dems heralded the nearly 19 per cent swing to them from Labour, as well as the collapse in Conservative support, as showing who “the real opposition here” was.

Their candidate, Lucy Salek, said the by-election was “about recognising that the people have a final say on Brexit”. She said: “We have turned around a massive increase in our vote share. We're back and people are starting to notice.”

Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, said the result “sends a message to the Labour leadership that it cannot take pro-European voters for granted”.

He said: “This is the largest swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats in over a decade and the failure of Labour's leadership to oppose the Conservatives' hard Brexit cannot be hidden or forgotten.”