Also-rans: inside the betting scandal-hit constituencies

The Tories and Labour both withdrew support for candidates being investigated by the Gambling Commission – Alex Ross hears from confused voters and local party campaigners

-  Alex Ross

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 only 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Conservative Party support has been withdrawn for Laura Saunders (Bristol North West) and Craig Williams (Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr), while Labour’s Kevin Craig (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) is no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.