After the resignations in disgrace of two Conservative MPs, voters in the constituencies of Tiverton and Honiton and Wakefield will go to the polls on Thursday in byelections that could hold clues to the outcome of the next general election.
Our political correspondent Peter Walker has been in Tiverton where, despite the Tories defending a huge majority, the Liberal Democrats are hopeful they can snatch the seat. He tells Hannah Moore that voters are increasingly fed up with Boris Johnson and may be in the mood to punish him.
Meanwhile in Wakefield it is Labour hoping to retake a seat it once held before the crumbling of its ‘red wall’ northern heartlands. But as Helen Pidd reports, there is no great love for the party’s leader Keir Starmer. Last week a visit by Johnson was cancelled at late notice, and many voters are struggling with the sharp rise in the cost of living. But despite favourable conditions for a Labour gain, the party is not taking victory for granted.
Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
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