Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Rishi Sunak is facing another perilous parliamentary by-election after voters in the constituency of the Conservative MP Peter Bone signed a petition to remove him.
MPs voted in October to approve a six-week suspension of Bone from the House of Commons after he was found by a parliamentary watchdog to have bullied an employee and committed indecent exposure.
On Tuesday it was confirmed that a by-election would take place in Bone’s constituency of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire after 10,505 people in the seat signed a petition to recall him.
The petition had to be signed by 10 per cent of eligible voters in the constituency, and 13.2 per cent did so.
In a statement on X, Bone said it seemed “bizarre” a by-election would be held given that 86.8 per cent of the electorate did not want to remove him.
He added the allegations that prompted the recall petition were “totally untrue and without foundation”, saying he would have “more to say on these matters” in the new year.
Bone won in Wellingborough in 2019 with an 18,540 majority, but Labour will be confident of victory in what would normally be regarded as a safe Tory seat.
Sunak will return from the Christmas break aiming to show that the Conservatives can still win the next general election, even though they trail Labour in opinion polls by about 18 percentage points.
But the prospect of at least one by-election in early 2024 where Labour could demonstrate it is capable of winning in Tory heartlands poses a real threat to Sunak’s efforts.
MPs who are suspended from the Commons for more than 10 days are automatically subject to a recall petition that results in a by-election if backed by 10 per cent of registered voters.
The recalled MP is allowed to contest the seat in the subsequent by-election.
The Commons standards committee this month raised the possibility of another by-election after it said former Tory MP Scott Benton should be suspended for 35 days for giving the impression he was “corrupt and for sale”.
Benton, who has been sitting as an independent, is appealing against the findings.
If MPs endorse the committee’s recommendation, Benton will also face a recall petition from his constituents in Blackpool South, where he has a majority of 3,690.
Labour would be confident of winning the seat in a by-election, given that Blackpool South features high on the party’s list of target constituencies at the next general election, which Sunak confirmed this week would be held in 2024.
Six by-elections have been held since the start of July. Labour has made gains in four, the Lib Dems in one, and the Conservatives have held one.
Credit: Source link
