2025 Runcorn and Helsby by-election
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Runcorn and Helsby constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnout | 46.2% (12.5 pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boundary of Runcorn and Helsby in North West England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Runcorn and Helsby was held on 1 May 2025, the same day as local elections in England. Following a recount, Sarah Pochin of Reform UK won the by-election with a majority of six votes, overturning a Labour majority of 14,696 votes in the last general election. It was the closest British post-war by-election result, and the closest result in a constituency since North East Fife in the 2017 general election.
The by-election was called following the resignation of the constituency's MP, Mike Amesbury. Amesbury was sentenced on 24 February 2025 to ten weeks in prison for assault, which was reduced on appeal to a suspended sentence. This would have triggered a recall petition but Amesbury resigned his seat on 17 March 2025.