VIDEO: Andrew Cooper rushed off stage and out the nearest fire exit just as Labour’s Sarah Edwards began her victory speech In Tamworth

Conservative candidate Andrew Cooper rushed off stage and out the nearest fire exit just as Labour’s Sarah Edwards began her victory speech.

Labour’s Sarah Edwards overturned a majority of 42.6 per cent and the party secured one of its biggest by-election victories against the Conservatives since the Second World War.

Ms Edwards secured 11,719 votes, compared with her Conservative rival’s 10,403 votes.

Commenting on her Tory opponent’s swift departure Ms Edwards said to ITV: “We have seen his true colours, it is a shame.”

Labour has overturned a near 20,000-vote Conservative majority in Tamworth, winning the area for the first time since a bellwether byelection in 1996.

Labour’s Sarah Edwards received 11,719 votes ahead of Andrew Cooper, the Tory candidate, who received 10,403 – a majority of 1,316 for Labour. It was a 23.89% swing to Keir Starmer’s party. Voter turnout was low at 35.87%, little more than half the 2019 figure. Thursday night proved to be a signal occasion for Labour which also swept away a huge Tory majority to win Mid Bedfordshire, the former seat of Nadine Dorries.

Mr Cooper had previously suggested that out-of-work parents struggling to feed their children should give up their TV subscriptions before seeking help.

In a post on social media he stated that families should “f— off” if they sought support while paying for a phone contract or cosmetic work.

The Conservative councillor was attempting to replace Chris Pincher in Thursday’s by-election. Mr Pincher, a former deputy chief whip, was suspended after he was found to have groped two men in a private members’ club. He denied doing so.

The victory in Tamworth will further bolster predictions that Labour stands to win a large majority at the next general election. The almost 24-point swing is greater than the 22-point swing Labour won in a 1996 byelection in the area by under Tony Blair, a year before the party won a landslide victory in the 1997 general election.

In her victory speech, Edwards said the voters of Tamworth had “sent a clear message to Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives that they have had enough of this failed government, which has crashed the economy and destroyed our public services.

“The people of Tamworth have made it clear. It’s time for change.”