Labour has taken Blackpool South from the Conservatives as voters deserted the Tories in a resounding Westminster by-election victory.

Chris Webb secured a 26.3% swing in the marginal Lancashire seat, easily wiping out the Tories’ 2019 general election majority of 3,690 to win by 7,607.

Conservative David Jones only narrowly beat Reform UK’s Mark Butcher into second place.

The by-election was triggered by former Tory MP Scott Benton’s resignation.

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Mr Webb said: “The people of Blackpool have spoken for Britain – they have had enough of this failed government.”

“People no longer trust the Conservatives,” he added, before throwing down the gauntlet to Rishi Sunak.

“Prime Minister – do the decent thing, admit you’ve failed and call a general election.”

Mr Webb paid tribute to his wife Portia, who recently gave birth to their first child, Cillian.

Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer hailed the result as a “seismic win”.

He added: “This is the one contest where voters had the chance to send a message to Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives directly, and that message is an overwhelming vote for change.

“The swing towards the Labour Party in Blackpool South is truly historic and shows that we are firmly back in the service of working people.”

The Conservatives suspended Mr Benton last year after he told journalists from The Times, posing as gambling industry investors, that he could lobby ministers.

A subsequent investigation concluded Mr Benton had caused “significant damage” to Parliament’s reputation and he announced his resignation as an MP in March.

Mr Webb becomes only the second Labour MP to represent Blackpool South after Gordon Marsden, who held the seat from 1997 until the December 2019 general election.

The turnout was 32.5% – much lower than the 56.8% in 2019.

BBC’s elections expert, Prof Sir John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde, said 26.3% was the third largest swing from Conservative to Labour in post-war by-election history.

He said it was the fifth by-election in this parliament in which the swing had been more than 20%.

Prof Curtice also noted that the Tories were not helped by Reform UK – with 16.9% of the vote – producing its best ever by-election performance.

While it was a very good result for Reform he noted that it was still well short of what UKIP regularly achieved in the 2010-15 parliament.