Independence Party leader Paul Nuttall — voters in Stoke held back, sticking instead with the pro-E. U. Labour Party, which has represented the working-class area for nearly 70 years. Just minutes after the results in Stoke were announced, Labour learned it had lost a seat that it has held even longer. Copeland, a district near the Scottish border that has been in Labour hands since 1935, fell to the ruling Conservative Party. But the loss calls into question his focus on winning working-class Labour seats in northern England, rather than the more traditionally conservative seats in southern England where Farage had trained his fire. Gareth Snell, a pro-E. U. local councilor who retained the seat for Labour, hailed the Thursday election in Stoke as a defeat for right-wing populism.

Source: Washington Post February 24, 2017 12:25 UTC