A total of 11 candidates are standing, with polling stations open between 07:00 and 22:00. The result is due in the early hours of Friday.
Who is standing?
Listed alphabetically, the following 11 candidates are standing for election:
Elaine Frances Cheeseman, English Democrats
Daniel Francis, Labour Party
Louie Thomas French, Conservative Party
Richard Hewison, Rejoin EU
David Michael Kurten, Heritage Party
John Edmund Poynton, UK Independence Party
Simone Reynolds, Liberal Democrats
Jonathan Scot Rooks, Green Party
Richard James Sunley Tice, Reform UK
Carol Margaret Valinejad, Christian Peoples Alliance
Mad Mike Young, Official Monster Raving Loony Party
There’s no doubt that the Tories will hold - the doubt is the size of the majority …
Labour’s Daniel Francis admitted winning the seat from the Tories’ 76-year grip and where they are defending an 18,952 majority would be “a difficult path, we don’t underestimate that”.
Tory campaigners are confident that the party will hold Old Bexley and Sidcup – the first in a series of closely watched parliamentary byelections – as polling stations close in the suburban south London seat.
Canvassers who spent the day trying to “get out the vote” said they expected the seat that has voted Conservative since 1950 to stay blue, though admitted some voters had expressed dissatisfaction with Boris Johnson.
Some reported being told by residents that they would not cast a ballot, while others vowed to switch to other parties, including Labour and Reform UK. However, the local Tory campaign centre was said to be “pretty confident”.
The short race began last month, after the death of James Brokenshire – a well-liked former cabinet minister who died of lung cancer.
The Tories’ choice to replace him, Louie French, hopes to hold on to a large share of the vote, though Brokenshire’s 19,000 majority is likely to be slashed given that turnout is expected to be significantly lower. It was reported to be as low as 34%, according to the BBC Newsnight policy editor, Lewis Goodall.
Labour sources have talked down the prospect of a shock result like that seen in Chesham and Amersham, the traditional Tory seat in Buckinghamshire that fell to the Liberal Democrats in June.
I’ll have a wild guess and say that the Tory majority has been slashed to 13,000 …
Tory candidate Louie French took the seat with 11,189 ahead of his Labour rival on 6,711, a majority of 4,478. The Tories’ share was down 13% on the 2019 result and it represented a 10% swing to Labour.
