The ruling Labour Party crashed from 46 to 11 per cent in a key special election, losing a ballot in a left-wing heartland town for the first time in a century as outsider insurgents took over 80 per cent of the vote.

Left and right wing populists dominated the election, taking over 80 per cent of the votes between them, squeezing out the legacy parties and all other contenders, a possible glimpse in the future of British politics.

Hard-left Welsh nationalist separatists Plaid Cymru (‘Party of Wales’) won a thumping 47 per cent of the vote in a hotly contested by-election in Caerphilly overnight. While such special elections for the devolved Welsh regional parliament are not often so closely watched, the race had come to be seen as a key barometer for public sentiment, and something of a

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