By Jonathan Isaby
March 5th update:
LabourList reports that Sir Peter Soulsby, the Labour MP for Leicester South, has (as expected) today been selected as Labour candidate for Mayor of Leicester.
As such, he has announced his intention to resign as an MP to concentrate on the mayoral campaign and it is strongly expected that the by-election will take place on May 5th, coinciding with local elections and the AV referendum.
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After today's by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth, we know another is already on the cards in Barnsley Central, which is being vacated by Eric Illsley.
But Sky News' Jon Craig reveals that there is a high possibility of a third by-election before too long:
Now, I can reveal, there is likely to be a third byelection, in Leicester South, because Labour MP Sir Peter Soulsby is tipped to become his party's candidate for Mayor of Leicester in an election in May and is expected to quit the Commons if he is successful.
The selection of Labour's mayoral candidate in Leicester is due in late February or early March, I'm told, and senior Shadow Cabinet allies of Ed Miliband tell me Labour would like to hold the Barnsley and Leicester South byelections on the same day.
Leicester South was the scene of a by-election in 2004 when the Lib Dems temporarily snatched the seat from Labour, only for Sir Peter to take it back in 2005. He held it last May wit a majority of 8,808 over the Lib Dems. The full result was:
Labour - Sir Peter Soulsby 21,479 45.6% (+6.2)
Liberal Democrat - Parmjit Singh Gill 12,671 26.9% (-3.7)
Conservative - Ross Grant 10,066 21.4% (+3.6)
BNP - Adrian Waudby 1,418 3.0% (+3.0)
Green - Dave Dixey 770 1.6% (-1.6)
UKIP - Christopher Lucas 720 1.5% (+1.5)
