Saturday, 28 Sep 2024

Brecon by-election LIVE: Boris Johnson on edge as majority threatened in crunch vote

Today’s by-election will see Brecon and Radnorshire, in Wales, take to the polls and possibly cut the Conservative Party majority to just one. This followed a disastrous local election result earlier in the spring when Theresa May was Prime Minister. The Tories lost a staggering 1,300 seats in the May ballot, which was put down to Mrs May’s dithering over Brexit including her failure to secure a deal with the EU and three delays to the deadline, which is now Halloween.

The by-election was triggered when Tory candidate Chris Davies was ousted by a recall petition down after being convicted for a false expenses claim in March earlier this year.

The Tories re-selected him, but he will battle with the Lib Dems, who won more than 700 seats earlier this year, as well as Labour, who lost 82.

Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party are also going after the seat in what will no doubt be a night of drama after a chaotic start to 2019 for the Conservatives.

See below for updates…

9.32pm update: Lib Dems tipped to take Tory seat

The Lib Dems are tipped to take the seat at the crunch ballot today.

BuzzFeed News reports new Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has visited the area fur times since she was voted in to take over from Vince Cable last week.

Boris Johnson has visited once and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is not reported to have visited at all, the publication reports.

It is not known whether anybody from Labour visted.

9.20pm update: ‘Vote Brexit Party’ banner spotted flying over Brecon

Residents in Brecon clocked a banner flying over the area that read ‘Vote Brexit Party’.

Hours before the polls officially opened the turquoise banner was spotted being dragged through the sky by a small plane.

Source: Read Full Article

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