‘A huge protest vote’ for Brown as Labour loses safe seat

BRITAIN’S Labour Party lost one of its safest parliamentary seats yesterday, deepening doubts within the party about Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s ability to win the next election.

Defeat left Brown facing a bleak weekend as the party’s main policy-making forum met to try to figure out how to win back voters disillusioned by a string of political gaffes, rising inflation and a slowing economy.

Adding to the gloom, data published yesterday showed second-quarter growth slowed to its weakest rate in three years as private housebuilding slumped, dragging the annual growth rate down to 1.6% from 2.3% in the first quarter.