Starmer faces first by-election challenge on May 1 in Runcorn
The poll will coincide with local elections being held the same day, it has been confirmed.
Sir Keir Starmer will face the first by-election challenge of this Parliament in May following the assault conviction of ex-MP Mike Amesbury for punching a constituent.
The poll in Runcorn and Helsby will be the first major test of public opinion following last summer’s general election.
It will take place on May 1, coinciding with the local elections, Halton Borough Council confirmed on Thursday.
Amesbury won the seat last year with a majority of 14,696 over Reform UK.
The former Labour MP decided to stand down rather than face a recall petition after he received a 10-week prison sentence, suspended on appeal, for punching a constituent last year.
Amesbury, who was suspended by the Labour Party following his arrest, admitted assaulting Paul Fellows, 45, after an altercation in the street in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of October 26.
Labour, the Conservatives, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats have all announced their candidates for the election.
Amesbury received more than 50% of the vote in the constituency last July, with Reform in second place followed by the Conservatives.
The Greens were in fourth place, with the Liberal Democrats in fifth. Turnout was around 58%.
In his letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to formally resign as an MP earlier this month, Amesbury said that his time as an MP had been “curtailed by a mistake for which I have taken full responsibility”.
“It is with a heavy heart that I write to inform you of my decision to resign from the House of Commons by accepting an office under the Crown,” he wrote.
“This step, though immensely difficult, is the honourable course of action that I believe is in the best interests of my constituents— whom I have been proud to represent throughout my tenure.”
