Labour call parliamentary by-elections in Ealing Southall and Sedgefield

10.02.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 28th Jun 2007

Labour have called the parliamentary by-elections of Ealing Southall in west London and Sedgefield (County Durham) for July 19th - just 21 days time.

The Labour party has moved the writ for the two contests in Parliament today, the day after the funeral of Southall MP Piara Khabra, and the creation of a vacancy in Sedgefield by Tony Blair's resignation as an MP.

The Liberal Democrats are urging Liberal Democrats supporters across the country to give as much support to the campaigns as possible, which are both starting immediately.

A headquarters opened today in Southall. The agent in the seat will be Chris Leaman, who ran Sarah Teather's successful campaign to hold Brent East in 2005.

A HQ will be opening shortly in Sedgefield, where the agent will be Ruth Milburn, the party's campaigns chief for the north east of England.

Labour are scared of the Liberal Democrat challenge. In recent years they lost Brent East, Leicester South and Dunfermline to the Liberal Democrats. Labour have called the Ealing Southall and Sedgefield by-elections at very short notice to try to stop us building momentum.

Liberal Democrat MPs have cancelled their regular parliamentary meetings in order to free up time for the campaigns. Many other Liberal Democrat meetings are being cancelled in order to allow Liberal Democrat members to help the campaigns.

Liberal Democrats will be fighting vigorous campaigns in both seats to hold Gordon Brown and Labour to account for their record.

The campaign websites are at www.sedgefieldlibdems.org.uk and www.ealinglibdems.org.uk

You can help ensure we fight the most intensive and effective campaigns possible by making a specially earmarked donation today at https://www.libdems.org.uk/support/landing1.html