General Election: Labour majority 80% chance after Starmer apologises for Rochdale loss

• Starmer apologise to Rochdale voters

• Labour majority 80% chance at GE

• Election odds-on to be autumn 2024

Keir Starmer apologised to voters in Rochdale after Labour lost yesterday's by-election but they are still 1.251/4 on the Betfair Exchange to win a majority at the next general election.

Labour were beaten by 'by-election specialist' George Galloway after they withdrew their support for their candidate over his antisemitic remarks.

The episode was an embarrassment for Labour and Starmer, who had supported Azhar Ali before his remarks were made public.

Galloway, who is leader of the Workers' Party of Britain, took the former Labour seat with almost 40% of the vote. Independent candidate David Tully came second.

Labour still on path to power in 2024

Despite losing Rochdale, and attracting the kind of headlines that Starmer hoped were in the past for Labour, the party remains on course to return to power this year.

The general election is 1.331/3 to take place from October to December.

The Conservatives have showed no signs of regaining their popularity, losing two seats to Labour in by-elections a fortnight ago.

Rishi Sunak's party are 1.8810/11 to lose more than 200 seats in a crushing general election defeat.

They are as long as 16.5 to win an unexpected majority and look doomed under their current leader.

For Labour, the job is to make sure that what happened in Rochdale is one-off and does not become a pattern that could damage their chances of returning to government for the first time since 2010.

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