Keir Starmer’s great selling point as Labour leader was meant to be “electability.” After four consecutive defeats under three different leaders, the party membership was desperate to see the Tories evicted from office. Starmer and his allies promised to turn around Labour’s fortunes and lead it back into government.

Judging by the results of yesterday’s by-election in Hartlepool, Starmer has taken the party backward. Labour was comprehensively trounced by the Tories, who took the seat with nearly 52 percent of the vote. For the first time since the Hartlepool constituency was created in the 1970s, it will not have a Labour MP.

Labour’s seat losses in 2019 were heavily concentrated in the so-called “red wall” constituencies of northern England, Wales, and the Midlands, where the majority voted Leave in the 2016 referendum. Hartlepool, with a 70 percent Leave vote, fits that profile like a glove. Labour can’t hope to regain power without clawing back some of those lost seats. If the party repeated its performance yesterday in a general election, it would be chalking up fresh defeats instead.