'Tight fight' ahead in Tamworth by-election

Political parties face a "tight fight" in the forthcoming by-election in Tamworth, MPs have said.

It follows the resignation of Chris Pincher, after he lost an appeal against a proposed Commons suspension for drunkenly groping two men.

Speaking to Politics Midlands, representatives from both Labour and the Tories said the battle for the seat was likely to be a difficult one.

Voters head to the polls on 19 October.

The Conservatives currently have a majority of over 19,600, and residents told the BBC they had worries about roads, crime and anti-social behaviour in the town.

Speaking to Politics Midlands, James Morris, Conservative MP for Halesowen and Rowley Regis, said: "The circumstances of the by-election are not ideal. But it is a going to be a tight fight.

"The government is focused on delivering, we have seen better economic news, we are seeing inflation coming down.

"All of those things will start to percolate through."

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said mid-term by-elections were "always tricky" for incumbent governments, but the party was going to "fight very hard" for the seat

"What we are doing is getting on and delivering for people," he said.

In 2019, Mr Pincher increased the Tories share of the vote to 66%, with Labour a distant second with 23.7% and the Lib Dems 5.3%.

However, Labour's consistent lead in the national polls this time around would suggest it stands a decent chance of overturning the Conservative majority.

Historically Tamworth has flipped between the two main parties, often in line with the national mood.

In 1996 Labour swept to victory in a by-election here in what was then the South East Staffordshire seat.

That win foreshadowed its landslide victory at the general election the following year.

While Labour would love to repeat that feat in 2023, chatting to local people suggests the result seems far from certain.

Some local polling shows Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck, and no one is taking anything for granted, not least those campaigning on the ground.

Labour's Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western added he was "sure" it would be close.

"It is a 20,000 majority, that is huge and to turn that over would be a massive result," he added.

"I think if the Conservatives can't win this then it says a lot about Rishi Sunak's government."

He said it would be tough to secure the "massive swing" needed for Labour to win, but added it would be "wonderful" if it could

"The truth is that the people of Tamworth have not been served almost a year now by Chris Pincher and I think that is really sad that they haven't had a representative, a voice in Parliament," he said.

Ellie Chowns, The Green's candidate for North Herefordshire added that by-elections give people the opportunity to voice their feelings about the ruling government.

In her area she said there was an "enormous amount of Conservative disaffection".

"Actually they are really glad to have a Green knock on their door, because they feel, yes, this is something I can feel proud about voting for," she said.

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