RISHI SUNAK’S by-election troubles look set to continue next month with the starting gun fired for contests in Wellingborough and Kingswood.

The polls, probably to take place on February 15, are both in Tory-held seats, but the government is likely to retain neither.

The Wellingborough election follows the suspension of sitting MP Peter Bone from the Commons over bullying and sexual misconduct after more than 10 per cent of voters petitioned to recall him.

The party’s position may also be made harder by the decision of local Tories to nominate Mr Bone’s girlfriend, Helen Harrison, to succeed him.

In Kingswood, a suburb of Bristol, incumbent Tory Chris Skidmore has quit Parliament and the party in protest at Mr Sunak’s reversal of key policies to tackle climate change.

The government’s majority is 18,000-plus in Wellingborough and more than 11,000 in Kingswood. 

Larger majorities have tumbled in by-elections over the last two years, however, as the government’s popularity has collapsed.

The Tories have lost seven of the last eight by-elections — to either Labour or the Liberal Democrats — where they have been defending the seat, the sole exception being Boris Johnson’s former constituency in Uxbridge, west London.

Labour is hopeful of picking up both seats, which would intensify pressure on Mr Sunak as the general election approaches.

A Labour source stressed today that the party’s key message in the elections would be “fiscal discipline.”