Wellingborough by-election: Who will make a splash?

Swans are a common sight on the Wellingborough embankment

Labour has hopes to overturn an 18,500 majority in Wellingborough, while the Conservatives want to hold on to the seat it has occupied since 2005. The Liberal Democrats want to cause an upset. But could one of the other parties or an independent candidate make a splash in the by-election?

'Same grey policies'

Ben Habib (left) and Reform UK's leader Richard Tice launched their campaign in Wellingborough

Wellingborough voted 62.4% in favour of Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum. Ben Habib, Reform UK's candidate, said this could give the party, which was formerly the Brexit Party, a good foundation in the by-election.

Mr Habib said those who voted to leave the EU "voted for a new social contract which they have not received".

He said Brexit supporters wanted "[a] smaller state, deregulation, making policies with British national interests in mind [and] cutting taxes". He said this had not been delivered.

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Mr Habib, who is also the party's co-deputy leader, said Wellingborough was similar to other towns in the UK "that are suffering, they have been hollowed out because national policies had been made badly".

He added that there was "no choice between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, they are both shades of the same grey policies".

'People are very disillusioned'

Will Morris believes the Green Party can win in Wellingborough

In last year's local elections the Green Party made record gains, and secured more than 240 seats across England.

In Wellingborough Will Morris is the party's candidate, he said it was "the party of the future".

He said the Greens were the only party "speaking to the challenges" of climate change.

Yet he added: "We are also about equality we're about fighting discrimination, we're about pushing back on some of the bigotry that we see, we're about right to work, the right to have a living wage, the right to be housed somewhere that's not full of mould [and] the right to clean water.

"There are plenty of people who are very, very disillusioned with the mainstream parties with this contest."

'Address the divisions'

Marion Turner-Hawes says the current party political system did not serve the local community

In 2019 the Green Party came fourth in Wellingborough, but its then-candidate Marion Turner-Hawes is now standing as an independent.

She said: "I believe that we need a better model of what it is to be an MP... in every community and particularly in this community.

"I think we'd been poorly served by our MP over the last few years."

She said, as an independent, she could "address the divisions between people and organisations" better than political parties.

Ms Turner-Hawes also stood for the Greens in the 2015 general election, but she left the party in 2020 and now sits as an independent councillor on Wellingborough Town Council.

Kevin Watts, who sits on Irchester Parish Council, is another local councillor standing in the by-election.

He said: "Politics at the moment and democracy in this country needs a good shake up. The two-party system isn't working, and it hasn't worked for some time."

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Andre Pyne-Bailey, another independent, does not have a political background but he said he wanted to stand to "promote the wellbeing of the residents".

Alongside the independents and other political parties will be The Official Monster Raving Loony Party.

For more than 40 years the party, founded by musician David Sutch, has stood in several by-elections and general elections.

This time around the party will be represented by Nick the Flying Brick, who said constituents should "not waste their vote and defend democracy" by voting for the party.

Alex Merola, from Britain First, and the independent candidate, Ankit Love Jay Mala, are both standing in Wellingborough. The BBC has attempted to contact both about their campaigns but has not had a response.