PM tries to bury by-election with Christmas

The PM could have chosen to have the Hamilton West by-election on 19 November. Instead she has gone for almost the last legally allowable date of 10 December, in the hope that by that time of year, no one will notice if they lose a seat they have a 6,500 majority in.

The key dates are:

• Wed 2 Nov – Writ issues
• Tue 8 Nov – nominations close
• Sat 10 Dec – Election Day
• Wed 21 Dec – final results
• Tue 17 Jan – writ returned