How the North Shropshire by-election could come down to just a few hundred votes

Today the North Shropshire parliamentary seat is hanging in the balance after a series of twists and turns that the best novelist would struggle to make up.

The resignation of Owen Paterson, the constituency’s MP since 1997, set into motion a fascinating election campaign that has captured the attention of the nation.

As by-elections often do, it attracted a flurry of ‘fringe’ candidates, from the Howling Laud Hope of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, to Boris Been-Bunged of Rejoin EU. Opposition candidates concentrated on sleaze in parliament before being reined in to look at local issues.

The Prime Minister made a flying visit to an Oswestry pharmacist as it was announced that the Conservative Candidate, Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst would be volunteering at vaccination clinics.

Then came ‘Partygate’ – the national story of Christmas parties in Downing Street that sent the campaigning right back to the Government and Prime Minister.

Boris Been-Bunged sang a song dedicated to the aforesaid parties on the streets of north Shropshire and the main opposition parties saw the canvassing swing towards them.

As polling got under way the Liberal Democrats said they were within a whisker of beating the Conservative candidate. The party knocked on more than 23,000 doors last weekend, with over 1,000 volunteers on the ground during the final week. Yesterday saw no fewer than five Lib Dem MPs on streets of the constituency canvassing.

Labour brought in shadow ministers Lucy Powell and Preet Bill for an eve-of-polling walkabout and on Tuesday deputy leader Angela Rayner visited Whitchurch while the chairman of the Conservative Party Oliver Dowden spent the day in north Shropshire.

Liberal Democrat candidate Helen Morgan said: “Thousands of voters in north Shropshire have a chance to send a message to Boris Johnson’s incompetent government by voting Liberal Democrat.

“We have a once in a generation chance to send a message to the Government today to end the decades of Conservatives taking us for granted, we should take our opportunity.”

Labour denied there has been any agreement with the Liberal Democrats to dial back campaigning in the North Shropshire by-election to give the party a better shot at beating the Tories.

“We’ve got a brilliant local candidate in Ben Wood and we’ve run a focused campaign there, and I think what’s clear is that Boris Johnson’s incompetence and broken promises is what’s coming up repeatedly on the doorstep.” He completely denied there had been a gentleman’s agreement between Labour and the Lib Dems, adding: “There’s only 24 hours to wait, so let’s wait and see what the result is.”

Liberal Democrat sources on the ground have said that the result will depend completely on turnout; whether voters stay at home or head out and vote to send a message to the Government. Even Conservative sources on the ground are saying that the election could come down to just a few hundred people.

On eve of the poll Mrs Morgan was joined on the campaign trail by five Liberal Democrat MPs. It comes amid speculation that Labour and the Greens voters are planning to lend their support to the Liberal Democrats tactically, particularly in Oswestry where the party has delivered thousands of extra leaflets asking residents to back Helen.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives’ campaign has gone into meltdown, their vote has collapsed since the Boris Johnson Christmas Party scandal with voters ready to send the Government a message they can’t ignore.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat candidate for the North Shropshire by-election Helen Morgan said: “Today, thousands of voters in North Shropshire have a chance to send a message to Boris Johnson’s incompetent government by voting Liberal Democrat.

“Residents in North Shropshire just want a fair deal where their ambulance service crisis is solved, farmers are backed the area is no longer taken for granted.

“We have a once in a generation chance to send a message to the Government today to end the decades of Conservatives taking us for granted, we should take our opportunity.”

You can follow the election voting, count and results live, from Thursday morning until the early hours of Friday, from our reporting team in North Shropshire.