Two by-elections will be held in Britain in October to see how Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are performing in key sectors and whether the opposition Labor Party is regaining support in Scotland.
The polls will determine the replacement of the two MPs who gave up their mandates and are seen as a major electoral test for the two main parties ahead of next year’s national elections, with Labor currently leading the polls.
On October 19, Sunak’s Conservatives will try to keep control of the seat in Mid-Bedfordshire, south-east England, opened by the departure of Nadine Dorries, who criticized Sunak’s leadership when she formally resigned last month .
Dorries, an ally of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, announced in June that she was stepping down, but she postponed her resignation. Voting has already taken place to replace Johnson, who has also resigned as MP, and two other Conservative MPs.
In those July polls, Sunak’s Conservatives lost two strategically important parliamentary seats but unexpectedly kept Johnson’s old constituency, in a setback for Labour.
The other by-election to be held in October will be to replace a Scottish National Party (SNP) MP who was expelled from the party and removed from voters for breaching Covid lockdown rules.
Margaret Ferrier was representing Rutherglen and Hamilton West, outside Glasgow, and the race to replace her is likely to take place on 5 October. The final decision on the date awaits the approval of the city council.
The by-election will show whether Labor can win again in Scotland, where they will need to regain some of their former dominance if they are to return to government.
On Monday, the first day after the summer parliamentary break, the dates for the two votes to replace outgoing MEPs were announced.
Source: Terra
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