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By-elections: Voters head to polls in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton
Voters in West Yorkshire and rural Devon head to the polls today in two by-elections triggered by Conservative resignations.
Polling stations for both by-elections will be open from 7am to 10pm, with the results expected between 4am and 6am on Friday.
The Wakefield by-election was triggered by the resignation of Imran Ahmad Khan following his conviction in April this year for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008.
Polling currently favours Labour candidate Simon Lightwood. The party hopes to regain the seat lost to the Conservatives in 2019, when Khan, the first Conservative to win Wakefield since 1931, received 47.3 per cent of the vote, behind Labour's Mary Creagh (39.8 per cent).
The Conservatives have selected Wakefield councillor Nadeem Ahmed to defend their slim majority.
In Tiverton and Honiton, considered to be one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Foord is hoping to recreate by-election wins in North Shropshire in December and Chesham and Amersham a year ago.
The rural Devon constituency's by-election was triggered by the resignation of Neil Parish in May after a female colleague complained to the party whip about an individual (later named as Parish) watching pornography on his mobile phone in the Commons chamber.
The seat has been held by the Conservatives since its creation in 1997. Should the Liberal Democrats succeed in overturning a Conservative majority of 24,239, it will be seen as a huge setback for the current government.
According to reports, Labour has instructed its frontbenchers not to travel to Tiverton and Honiton to campaign in order to give the Liberal Democrats a better chance of victory.
Polling suggests a tight race between Foord and Conservative candidate Helen Hurford.
Wakefield Candidates
Akef Akbar - Independent
Nadeem Ahmed - Conservative
Paul Bickerdike - Christian Peoples Alliance
Mick Dodgson - Freedom Alliance. Real People. Real Alternative
Sir Archibald Stanton Earl 'Eaton - Monster Raving Loony Party
Jayda Fransen - Independent
Jordan James Gaskell - UK Independence Party
David John Rowntree Herdson - Yorkshire Party
Therese Hirst - English Democrats
Christopher Richard Jones - Northern Independence Party
Simon Robert Lightwood - Labour Party
Jamie Luke Needle - Liberal Democrats
Ashley Theo Blue Routh - Green Party
Ashlea Simon - Britain First
Chris Walsh - Reform UK
Honiton and Tiverton candidates
Jordan Donoghue-Morgan, Heritage Party
Andy Foan - Reform UK
Richard Foord - Liberal Democrats
Helen Hurford - Conservative
Liz Pole - Labour
Frankie Rufolo - The For Britain Movement
Ben Walker - UK Independence Party
Gill Westcott - Green Party
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