Hove MP Peter Kyle has described Labour’s victory in a historic by-election as a “political earthquake”.

Labour won the normally safe Conservative seat of Mid Bedfordshire, overturning the almost 25,000 vote majority the party secured at the last general election.

Labour’s Alistair Strathern won 34.1 per cent of the vote, with the Conservatives pushed into second with 31.1 per cent and the Liberal Democrats third with 23.1 per cent.

Speaking to Sky News, Peter Kyle, who led the Labour campaign in Mid Bedfordshire, described the victory as a “historic moment”.

He said: “What happened tonight was a political earthquake. The Labour Party has never had this seat. This is a seat where the Tory Party has never had to do a single bit of campaigning ever - it just expects communities like this to turn up and vote for them.

“The Conservatives had taken this place for granted and the Tory Party has had the shock of its life.”

READ MORE: Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth results: Key statistics and historical benchmarks

The by-election in Mid Bedfordshire was triggered by the resignation of Nadine Dorries, who quit after not being granted a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

Mr Kyle said Labour campaigners had spent much of the campaign speaking to voters who “told us they had experienced the worst of politics and they wanted to have a glimmer of hope that something better could replace it”.

He said Labour would not be stopping at Mid Bedfordshire and would be taking the fight to the Conservatives across the country.

“Nowhere is off limits - whether it’s a village, town or city, the Labour Party is there to connect and move forward into this election year.”

If the swing from the Mid Bedfordshire by-election was reflected across the country, the Conservatives would lose all their seats in Sussex. Labour and the Liberal Democrats would win eight seats, with a Green MP in Brighton Pavilion.

Education secretary and MP for Chichester Gillian Keegan told the BBC that by-elections are "always tricky" for the government of the day but there was "no real love for Labour" on the doorsteps.

She also said the government is working to deliver on its key priorities to demonstrate to Tory voters who have stayed at home that it is worth casting their ballot for the Conservatives.

It comes as current forecasts from Electoral Calculus predict Labour will flip four seats in the county at the next general election.

The party is expected to beat the Conservatives in Crawley, Hastings and both Worthing seats.

The Conservatives are also expected to lose Lewes and Eastbourne to the Liberal Democrats.