Two Parliamentary By-elections called by Labour

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 24th Jun 2004

Two seats are being contested in the by-elections - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Leicester South. In both seats the LibDems were the main challengers to Labour, with the Conservatives a poor third. The by-elections have been called at short notice, with polling day Thursday 15 July, to try and prevent the LibDems scoring further successes, as at Brent East last September, when the LibDems overturned a massive Labour majority to gain their 54th MP.