Record for period with no by-election

A NEW record is about to be set for the longest period of time since a parliamentary by-election was held in the UK.

On Friday, a total of 582 days will have passed since voters last went to the polls in a Westminster by-election.

The gap is unprecedented in post-war history, and the current record is 581 days, which was the period of time between the Ogmore by-election on February 14, 2002, and the Brent East by-election on September 18, 2003.

Parliamentary by-elections are typically triggered by an MP resigning or passing away – but despite all that has happened in the past 19 months, including the coronavirus pandemic, no seats have fallen vacant.

The most recent contest took place on August 1, 2019, when the Liberal Democrats gained the Brecon and Radnorshire constituency from the Conservatives – only for the Tories to win it back four months later at the General Election.

By-elections for seats in the House of Commons have long been a common feature of the political scene, delivering many a shock result. However, to go for more than a year-and-a-half without a single one of these contests is highly unusual. Robert Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said: “There has been a long-term trend towards them becoming less frequent, because of improving health and life expectancy in middle age.

“But there has also been a more recent trend – a decline in political events that have triggered byelections. In the past 10 years we had a lot of vacancies in parliament caused by resignation rather than death, MPs who resigned to run for Police and Crime Commissioners and for mayors, or who resigned because they didn’t agree with their party leader.”