Labour and Lib Dems reckon they can snap up Nadine Dorries' seat following her exit - 11 WEEKS after she vowed to go

Labour and the Lib Dems reckon they have a good chance of snapping up Nadine Dorries' Mid Bedfordshire seat in a by-election triggered by her exit - 11 WEEKS after she vowed to go. The Conservative former culture secretary has finally handed in her resignation, leaving Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing another potentially damaging electoral test this autumn as his party languishes in the national polls.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said he is “increasingly confident we have a really good chance” of overturning Ms Dorries’ huge 25,000 majority in the constituency. He is hoping his party can pull off another shock victory after recently flipping a 19,000 blue majority in Somerton and Frome.

Sir Ed told BBC Breakfast on Sunday: “It’s clear that the people of Mid Bedfordshire feel the Conservative Party is out of trust and they see the Liberal Democrats as the main challenger.” He noted that the Lib Dems have achieved massive swings to take similar rural so-called Blue Wall seats, where Conservative support has traditionally been strong.

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Although the party came third in Mid Bedfordshire at the 2019 general election, with 8,000 votes, Sir Ed pointed to recent by-elections where it won seats from third place, such as in Tiverton and Honiton. “It’s really clear – the evidence is overwhelming – that in seats like Mid Bedfordshire it’s the Liberal Democrats who are the only ones who can beat the Conservatives,” Sir Ed said.

But Labour, which came second in 2019 with 14,000 votes, believes it is best placed to gain the traditionally safe Tory seat. The party’s Mid Bedfordshire campaign lead Peter Kyle told Sky News: “We are actually in