Theresa May faces first ballot box test with by-election to replace David Cameron as Tracey Brabin is expected to succeed Jo Cox in Batley and Spen vote
Voting has opened in both by-elections - with the Tories and Labour highly likely to retain their seats
THERESA May faces her first test at the ballot box as the polls open today in the by-election to replace David Cameron as MP for Witney.
As well as the vote in West Oxfordshire there is also one in Batley and Spen, where former soap actress Tracey Brabin is expected to take over from Jo Cox, the Labour MP killed in June.
The Prime Minister, who is off to Brussels for her first European Council meeting, should have few worries about losing the seat vacated by the man she replaced in Number 10.
Mr Cameron had a majority of more than 25,000 after gaining more than 60% of the vote at the 2015 General Election, with Tory candidate Robert Courts expected to win comfortably.
The Liberal Democrats are hoping to knock Labour into third place, while the Green Party has garnered attention with their decision to choose Larry Sanders, brother of US presidential candidate Bernie to be their candidate.
Labour would have been expected to retain the Yorkshire seat even without the decision of the other major parties not to field a competitor as a mark of respect following the killing of Jo Cox.
The 41-year-old was shot and stabbed to death in her constituency a week before the EU referendum.
Thomas Mair, 53, is due to go on trial accused of her murder next month.
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Labour selected former Coronation Street actress Tracy Brabin as their candidate, seeking to carry-on the work of Ms Cox.
But although the main parties refused to challenger her, she faces a number of fringe parties – including several from the far right – who have moved in to try and gain support in the highly unusual election.
Polls in both seats close at 10pm tonight, with the result expected in the early hours of Friday morning.
Mr Cameron quit the Witney seat he had held since 2001 last month after insisting he did not want to become a "distraction" to Mrs May while she established herself in Downing Street.
He stressed he had his "own views" on certain issues, prompting speculation he decided to stand down because the new wave of grammar schools announced by his successor was an idea he opposed as PM.
But the pair put aside any differences to campaign together for Mr Courts this weekend, as did Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was out to back his party's veteran candidate, Duncan Enright.