Rishi Sunak faces first electoral test since becoming Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak is facing his first electoral test since becoming Prime Minister as voters head to the polls for a Westminster by-election.

Polling stations in the City of Chester constituency opened at 7am on Thursday and will close at 10pm.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour’s Christian Matheson after he was recommended for suspension for serious sexual misconduct.

Matheson, who admitted to having committed a minor breach of Parliament’s code of conduct, had been MP for the constituency since being elected in 2015.

Labour has been strongly tipped to win the seat, as the party currently holds a majority of just over 6,000.

However, the Conservatives won the constituency in 2010, before Matheson regained it in 2015, albeit with a slim majority of 93 votes.

In 2019, the Conservatives had a 38.3% share of the vote, and the party will hope to try and maintain that.

But, with the current state of the economy and the instability at Westminster, the vote could indicate to what extent voters are disaffected by the current government in London.

There are nine candidates in the contest, including Samantha Dixon for Labour and Liz Wardlaw for the Tories.