The Labour candidate in Copeland, Gillian Troughton, was ushered away from the count immediately after the result, without making a speech or talking to reporters. 

Andrew Gwynnne, the MP for Denton and Reddish, who ran Labour's campaign, said it was a disappointing result.

He said: "We have got a job to do to rebuild the Labour party, to rebuild policies that will connect with working communities up and down the United Kingdom in time for the 2020 election."

Richard Moss
Political Editor, BBC Look North

Copeland was not a safe Labour seat - but it should have been one they held on to.

Image source, Getty Images

Oppositions do not usually lose to governing parties. 

And this also offered Labour a chance to capitalise on a key issue for the party - the NHS and concerns about the local hospital.

The failure to do that will worry the party. 

The Conservatives said the result was a rejection of Jeremy Corbyn and his - at best - lukewarm support for the nuclear industry. 

But it is true Labour's problems have been building for a while - the area chose an Independent directly elected mayor in 2015, ending Labour control of the council. 

Jeremy Corbyn has put the result down to voters feeling let down by the political establishment. 

Labour used to be the establishment in Copeland. 

For now, that's not so certain. 

Justin Parkinson
BBC News Magazine

The Conservatives' taking of the traditional Labour seat of Copeland is not the first memorable by-election result.

Here are 11 more which caused something of a stir .

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Politics

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party's message was "not enough" to win the Copeland by-election.

Copeland, created in 1983, and its predecessor constituency Whitehaven have returned Labour MPs since 1935.  

Image source, Getty Images

The Conservative  Trudy Harrison beat Labour's Gillian Troughton , with 13,748 votes 11,601.

Mr Corbyn, who saw his party retain the Stoke Central seat, said: "Labour will go further to reconnect with voters and break with the failed political consensus."

Prof John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said the Copeland result was the best by-election performance by a governing party in terms of the increase in its share of the vote since January 1966. 

The Conservatives'  Trudy Harrison beat Labour candidate Gillian Troughton by more than 2,000 votes in the election, triggered by the resignation of Jamie Reed.

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said the result was an extraordinary achievement for a governing party after seven years of austerity and would strengthen the prime minister's grip on British politics.

Image source, Getty Images

Tom Bateman
Political Correspondent, Millbank

Amid rumours the Tories might pull off a dramatic by-election gain, there was mounting anticipation in the Whitehaven sports centre hosting the coun t.

Unusually, election officials stopped ballot papers piling up in the trays carrying names for each candidate, meaning the final result was harder to predict. 

The resulting cheer from blue-rosetted activists in the hall might have been heard in Downing Street.

This is a significant political moment for Theresa May - the first time in decades a sitting government has ousted an opposition party from one of its seats in a by-election.

But the real fallout will be for Jeremy Corbyn, who has promised to reconnect with voters. 

He may be left trying to do so while facing further opposition from his own MPs.

BBC Politics

• Trudy Harrison, Conservatives, 13,748
• Gillian Troughton, Labour, 11,601
• Rebecca Hanson, Lib Dems, 2,252
• Fiona Mills, UKIP, 2,025
• Michael Guest, Independent, 811
• Jack Lenox, Greens, 515
• Roy Ivinson, Independent, 116

Turnout, 51.27%

BBC Politics

Copeland's new Conservative MP Trudy Harrison says her ousting of Labour is a historic event .

Ms Harrison, who had been joined by Prime Minister Theresa May on the campaign trail, got 44.3% of the vote, increasing the Conservatives' vote share by more than 8%  

BBC Politics

The Conservatives have won the Copeland by-election, beating Labour in an area it represented for more than 80 years .

Trudy Harrison won with 13,748 votes to Labour's Gillian Troughton's 11,601.

Image source, Reuters

Ms Harrison hailed the victory - the first by-election gain by a governing party since 1982 - as "a truly historic event".

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Jamie Reed.

Copeland, created in 1983, and its predecessor constituency Whitehaven have returned Labour MPs since 1935.  

Martin Lewes
Reporter

An early start today: We'll be here through to about 16:00 with results and reaction from the Copeland by-election, travel news, a regular weather forecast, and anything else that takes our fancy from around the county.

As always, if you have a photograph you'd like to share or you have news you think we should know, you can  email us ,  tweet us, external  or get in touch  through our Facebook page, external .