Britain's Labour Party hold off UKIP to win Stoke by-election

Britain's opposition Labour Party won a parliamentary by-election for the Stoke Central seat on Friday, fending off a challenge from the anti-European Union UK Independence Party which had hoped to capitalise on the area's pro-Brexit stance.

Labour won by a comfortable margin over UKIP, with Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives in third.

The former industrial city had been a safe Labour seat since 1950, but the party's support for staying in the EU put it at odds with 70 percent of Stoke voters who backed Brexit.

UKIP's failure to capitalise on that sentiment, despite pouring resources into the campaign and putting party leader Paul Nuttall forward as its candidate, is expected to raise questions about the party's ability to build its influence in parliament, where it currently has just one seat.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)