Paul Nuttall, leader of UKIP (Photo by Mary Turner/Getty Images)

The Stoke-on-Trent Central is now just a few days away and, although there is a clear favourite to win, the result is far from a certainty.

Voters will go to the polls on Thursday February 23rd to decide who will replace Tristram Hunt who resigned as Labour MP for the constituency in January.

Whilst there are 10 candidates standing in the by-election, it appears that only two have a realistic chance of winning the seat – Labour and UKIP.

Labour won the seat in 2015 with 12,220 votes with UKIP in second with 7,041.


Labour candidate Gareth Snell (Picture: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

Standing for Labour is Gareth Snell, a former leader of Newcastle Borough Council who has been embarrassed in his campaign over some offensive tweets he has sent in the past.



His main adversary is UKIP leader Paul Nuttall, who assumed leadership of the party in November and has been an MEP since 2009.

Nuttall has had an even more embarrassing campaign and has been forced to apologise for false claims on his website about the Hillsborough disaster.

What are the odds for the Stoke by-election? (Courtesy of Ladbrokes)

Labour – 4/7

UKIP – 2/1

Conservatives – 8/1

Lib Dems – 50/1

Green – 500/1

Full list of candidates in Stoke-on-Trent central by-election Gareth Snell – Labour Paul Nuttall – UKIP Zulfiqar Ali – Lib Dems Jack Brereton – Conservatives Adam Colclough – Green Party Mohammad Akram – Independent The Incredible Flying Brick – Monster Raving Loony Godfrey Davies – Christian People’s Barbara Fielding – Independent David Furness – BNP