The Brecon by-election will be the first electoral test for the newly appointed 77th Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A by-election occurs outside of a general election when a seat in the House of Commons is vacated. The Breacon and Radnorshire seat became available when the Conservative MP Chris Davies was ousted after 10,005 of his constituents signed a recall petition following his conviction for a false expenses claim. Now six other candidates are vying to replace him, but what will the polling stations close today?

Why is there a by-election in Brecon?

In April 2018, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the body which oversees MPs’ expenses, referred Mr Davies to the Metropolitan Police “in relation to an allegation of fraudulent expense claims submitted by an individual”.

The Conservative MP said he made an “honest mistake” in the expenses form he submitted for photographs at his Builth Wells constituency office: the mistake involved deliberate forgery.

He stood accused of forging two invoices for £450 and £250 rather than submitting the true £700 claim for the photographs and claimed it was submitted due to “my inexperience of the IPSA code”.

In February, Mr Davies was charged with two counts of making a false instrument and one count of providing false or misleading information for allowance claims.

He pleaded guilty to two counts and was sentenced to a community order requiring 50 hours’ unpaid work, together with a fine of £1,500.

During the sentencing hearing, the judge said: “It seems shocking that when confronted with a simple accounting problem, you thought to forge documents.

“That is an extraordinary thing for a man with your position and your background to do.”

The conviction automatically triggered the 2019 Brecon and Radnorshire recall petition after 19 percent of voters signed a recall petition.

The minimum threshold for a recall petition is 10 percent – meaning the seat was immediately declared vacant and Mr Davies ceased to be an MP.

Today, voters in Brecon and Radnorshire will choose a new MP among the following candidates:

• Conservative: Chris Davies

• Labour: Tom Davies

• Brexit Party: Des Parkinson

• Lib Dems: Jane Dodds

• UKIP: Liz Phillips

• Monster Raving Loony Party: Lady Lily The Pink

Despite his conviction, the Conservatives have reselected Mr Davies as the party’s candidate.

During the 2017 general election, he won the seat with a 19.45 percent majority out of a 73.8 percent turnout for the constituency.

What time are the polls open until and when will the results be announced?

Voters in the region will be able to vote at the polls from 7am-10pm.

The results are expected to be announced at around 3am on Friday morning.

Why is this by-election so important?

The 2017 general election resulted in a hung parliament – meaning no party won an overall majority.

The Conservatives were nine seats short of a majority and agreed a confidence and supply deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to make up the shortfall.

Given the government’s small majority in the House of Commons, there is a lot at stake in today’s by-election.

In a constituency of around 8,000 people, should the Conservatives lose the seat, it will cut their working majority in Parliament to just one.

This outcome would increase pressure on the new PM to deliver Brexit on 31 October and would leave Mr Johnson more susceptible to losing a potential motion of no confidence.

Express.co.uk will bring you live results and updates as they are announced throughout the night.

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