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Amid the national fallout from the betting scandal, three local party campaigns have been left without candidates, with many constituents now wondering who to support.
As it’s too late to change the ballot papers, suspended candidates will still be listed with the party names while investigations by the Gambling Commission are carried out.
As The Independent has discovered, their campaigns have come to a halt, meaning significant implications not just for the party they represented but also for others vying for the now-undecided voters.
Conservative Party support has been withdrawn for Laura Saunders (Bristol North West) and Craig Williams (Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr), while Labour’s Kevin Craig (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) is no longer standing as a party candidate.
If elected, they will sit as independent MPs, unless the parties restore their support following the watchdog’s inquiries.
Bristol North West
In Bristol, where Labour, Greens and the Lib Dems dominate the political landscape, the leafy suburb of Stoke Bishop pops up like a blue island on the northwestern fringe.
When the Conservative Party suffered a crushing defeat at the local elections in May, the two Tory councillors in this desirable urban village held on – and by some distance.
The red wall can only go so far, it seems, but on Tuesday lunchtime last week, the local party suffered a blow.
Ms Saunders is being investigated by the Gambling Commission, along with her husband and party director of campaigns Tony Lee, over alleged betting on the date of the general election and has been suspended.
Any momentum towards closing in on the 5,700 majority held by Labour’s Darren Jones five years ago has come to a halt, and on Friday, the candidate did not show up at a hustings in the village.
“It’s disappointing,” said John Goulandris, who has been a Conservative Stoke Bishop councillor for 14 years and was preparing to deliver party leaflets before the announcement last week.
“We always go into an election optimistic and we knew we had a lot of support in Bristol North West,” he said.
Mr Goulandris described Ms Saunders as a “first-class candidate” who connected with local people on issues important to them but said the allegations and investigation had impacted her.
Despite ceasing his campaign in the constituency, he urged people to still vote for her, adding that if she is cleared and elected, she could still sit as a Conservative MP with party support restored.
For some voters, the option has already passed.
Trevor Scantalebury, 82, has already voted for Ms Saunders through a postal vote and said: “It is a sad reflection of the state of politics when something like this happens, whether they are proven guilty or not.”
Labour voter Christian Weale believed the Lib Dems could benefit from the Conservative withdrawal of support for its candidate.
“This all makes me really concerned about the lack of accountability in government and how fragile our democratic pillars appear to be now,” he said. “It’s starting to feel like people in power can do anything – and that can trickle down into society, creating division and mistrust.”
Reform UK has a candidate for the constituency but the party was not on the lips of locals such as Jo Matthews, 76, who voted Tory last time but has previously also voted Labour.
“I wouldn’t vote for her [Ms Saunders] because of what’s happened – it was the right decision [to remove party support],” she said.
Also standing in Bristol North West are Caroline Gooch (Lib Dems), Darren Jones (Labour), Scarlett O’Connor (Reform), Mary Page (Green) and Ben Smith (Social Democratic Party).
Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr
“Confusion” is the word that comes up among people in the Welsh constituency which Conservative Craig Williams has held since 2019.
Recent polling suggested Mr Williams, who was a close aide to prime minister Rishi Sunak, was projected to hold on to the seat with 28 per cent of the vote, ahead of Labour on 25 per cent.
But he is being investigated over a bet placed on a July election, three days before Mr Sunak announced the date, and he has lost his party’s support.
Mr Williams, writing on X, has said he “committed an error of judgement, not an offence”.
At a hustings at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen school last week, there was an empty seat for Mr Williams, as five of the six candidates answered questions from the public.
Tory councillor Gwynfor Thomas, whose ward is Llansantffraid, said that despite Mr Williams’s suspension from the party, there was still support in the area, particularly given his “good track record”.
But he also said there was uncertainty over voting for Mr Williams, and what it would mean.
“Just speaking to people, they are confused at the moment,” he said. “He’s been a great MP who has balanced life in Westminister with this area very well, people recognise that and still wish to support him.
“I’d say he’ll still receive support. We’ll have to see what happens.”
A man in Welshpool called Paul, who did not want to give his surname, believed Mr Williams would still win the seat. The 69-year-old, a member of Reform UK, said it is unlikely his party will take enough of the vote to win.
“I’m just hoping we can beat Labour,” he said. “But really, there’s a lot of confusion locally about it, especially if his name will appear next to the Conservative Party on the ballot paper. We don’t know how people will vote, really.”
Also standing in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr are Steve Witherden (Labour), Elwyn Vaughan (Plaid Cymru), Glyn Preston (Lib Dem), Oliver Lewis (Reform UK) and Jeremy Brignell-Thorp (Green).
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
After its creation in 1997, the constituency of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich was held by the Conservatives until former minister Dan Poulter defected to Labour in April, sending a shock wave across a rural landscape dominated by Tory councillors.
But hopes in Labour HQ of holding onto the seat were dashed when Dr Poulter’s Labour candidate replacement, Kevin Craig, admitted placing a bet on himself to lose the election.
He apologised for the “stupid error” but Labour had already withdrawn its support for the candidate, who would, like Ms Saunders and Mr Williams, sit initially as an independent if he wins.
It was a blow for Labour, with the latest MRP polling suggesting Mr Craig was tied with Conservative candidate Patrick Spencer on 33 per cent.
Ipswich Labour councillor Sarah Adams said all campaigning by the party had moved to nearby constituencies.
She said: “He made a silly mistake. It was a silly thing to do. We can’t have support for a candidate who did such a thing. He is a really lovely chap, a good businessman, but sometimes people take their eye off the ball.
“He had an incredibly tough job in what was a safe Tory seat, but any chance we had has now gone.”
Also standing in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich are Patrick Spencer (Conservative), Dan Pratt (Green), Brett Mickelburgh (Lib Dem), Tony Gould (Reform UK), Charlie Caiger (Independent) and Mike Hallatt (Independent).
