By-election polls open in Kingswood and Wellingborough
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Polls have opened for two crunch by-elections taking place today in Kingswood and Wellingborough.
Voters in the constituencies will have until 10pm to decide who they want to be their MP following the departures of Chris Skidmore and Peter Bone.
The Kingswood by-election was triggered after Mr Skidmore, a former Tory minister, quit parliament in protest at the government’s green policy.
In Wellingborough, voters are going to the polls after Mr Bone was found by parliament to have subjected a staff member to bullying and sexual misconduct. He has denied the allegations.
The Conservatives will be looking to retain both seats, which they hold with a majority of more than 10,000.
The Tory majority is 11,220 in Kingswood, south Gloucestershire, where Mr Skidmore had been the MP since 2010.
Mr Bone was first elected as the Conservative MP for Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, in 2005 – and was re-elected with a majority of 18,540 at the last election in 2019.
Following a report by the Independent Expert Panel, Mr Bone had the whip suspended, forcing him to sit as an independent MP in the Commons.
Mr Skidmore, who was energy minister under Theresa May and also in government under Boris Johnson, announced last month he would be leaving his role as an MP.
In his resignation letter, he said was quitting “in protest at the government’s decision to prioritise and politicise new oil and gas licences above a sensible investment plan for the future”.
The results in both by-elections are expected in the early hours of Friday morning – and Sky News will bring you the news, analysis and reaction on a special programme from midnight, as well as online in the Politics Hub.
Anyone who is over 18 and registered to vote in the constituencies can cast a ballot.
New rules on Voter ID introduced last year mean identification is required in order to vote.
Who is standing?
The 11 candidates standing in the Wellingborough by-election are:
– Nick the Flying Brick, The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
– Ana Savage Gunn, the Liberal Democrats
– Ben Habib, Reform UK
– Helen Harrison, Conservative
– Ankit Love Jknpp Jay Mala Post-Mortem, Independent
– Gen Kitchen, Labour
– Alex Merola, Britain First
– Will Morris, Green Party
– Andre Pyne-Bailey, Independent
– Marion Turner Hawes, Independent
– Kevin Watts, Independent
The candidates in the running for the Kingswood seat are:
– Sam Bromiley, Conservative
– Andrew Brown, the Liberal Democrats
– Damien Egan, Labour
– Lorraine Francis, Green
– Rupert Lowe, Reform UK
– Nicholas Wood, UKIP
