Nadine Dorries: Mid-October date likely for Mid Bedfordshire by-election to replace MP who quit
Voters in Nadine Dorries' constituency are likely to be asked to go to the polls in mid-October to choose a successor to the former Tory MP.
Ms Dorries formally quit her seat just over a week ago, more than 78 days after she said would step down "with immediate effect".
On Monday, the government's chief whip Simon Hart asked for the writ to trigger the by-election to be moved on 12 September.
That would then mean that a vote in Mid-Bedfordshire could be held on October 12 or 19.
The constituency has been a hotbed of campaigning since early summer, as rival parties bid to overturn Ms Dorries' majority of more than 24,000 votes.
Both the Lib Dems and Labour have had a strong presence in the constituency in recent months, and have announced their candidates, while Ms Dorries endorsed the Tory candidate just days after she claimed she would quit.
The declared candidates for the Mid-Bedfordshire constituency so far:
Festus Akinbusoye - Conservative
Has been the county's police and crime commissioner since May 2021, and was selected by his party to stand for the seat in mid-June.
Alistair Strathern - Labour
A councillor in Waltham Forest in London, where he serves as portfolio lead member for children and young people, and works as a climate lead for insurance at the Bank of England.
Emma Holland-Lindsay - Liberal Democrats
A local councillor who represents Leighton Buzzard on Central Bedfordshire Council, she is currently a leader at a nationwide women's charity.
Cade Sibley - Green Party
Dave Holland - Reform UK
Gareth Mackey - Independent Cade Sibley
Alan Victor - True and Fair Party
Ms Dorries announced her intention to stand down as an MP on 9 June, with immediate effect.
But she then delayed her resignation in the hope of receiving information from the government as to why she was left off former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
Former government minister Ms Dorries was critical of current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in her resignation letter.
She said: “You’ve no mandate from the people, and the government is adrift.
“You’ve squandered the goodwill of the nation, for what? Since you took office a year ago, the country is run by a zombie parliament where nothing meaningful has happened.”
Pressure had been increasing on Ms Dorries to formally resign from parliament, with more than 80,000 people signing a public petition calling for a change in the law that would force a by-election.
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