A by-election will be held in the West Lancashire constituency after Labour MP Rosie Cooper stood down. Meanwhile, polls have opened in Chester for its by-election after its previous MP was forced to resign.
The West Lancashire by-election comes as its MP, Cooper, was selected by chancellor Jeremy Hunt to serve as Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern.
The process is one of the legal fictions that enables MPs to resign their seats in the House of Commons.
The Treasury issued a statement saying: “The Chancellor of the Exchequer has this day appointed Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern.”
Cooper – who held the West Lancashire seat for 17 years - will now take-up a new role as chair of the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, a decision she’d made after “a considerable period of soul-searching and reflection”.
The departing MP said in a statement that she left her role “with a heavy heart” and was “thrilled to be moving on to a new role within the NHS”.
She separately said that it had been “an incredible honour and privilege” to serve her constituency and had “loved every minute, even in the most difficult times.”
One of her more difficult spells as the West Lancashire MP saw her fall victim to a murder plot, which saw the far-right conspirator handed a life sentence in 2019.
Cooper said: “The events I have faced over the last few years are well documented and undoubtedly have taken their toll.”
Meanwhile, Thursday sees polling stations open for the Chester by-election, as the city elects its new MP.
The by-election was called after Labour MP Christian Matheson stood down in October, after being found guilty of serious sexual misconduct. He had represented the constituency since 2015 after winning his seat at the general election of that year.
Polls close at 22:00 GMT.
Image by secretlondon123 - originally posted to Flickr as Polling station, taken from Wikimedia Commons
