The Labour Member of Parliament for Wigan (Greater Manchester, England) Roger Stott, died on 9 August 1999, causing a by-election in the constituency. Polling day was set for 23 September. Labour selected Neil Turner, who had been a local councillor for 27 years, to defend the seat. The Conservatives chose Tom Peet, who was an active Trade Unionist and had worked at a nearby coal mine.
Wigan was a massively safe Labour seat and none of the other candidates could form an effective challenge.
| Wigan by-election, 1999 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Neil Turner | 9,641 | 59.6 | -9.0 | |
| Conservative | Tom Peet | 2,912 | 18.0 | +1.1 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Jonathan Rule | 2,148 | 13.3 | +3.3 | |
| UKIP | John Whittaker | 834 | 5.2 | N/A | |
| Socialist Labour | William Kelly | 240 | 1.5 | N/A | |
| Green | Chris Maile | 190 | 1.2 | +0.2 | |
| National Democrats | Stephen Ebbs | 100 | 0.6 | N/A | |
| Natural Law | Paul Davis | 64 | 0.4 | +0.2 | |
| Independent | David Braid | 58 | 0.4 | N/A | |
| Majority | 6,729 | ||||
| Turnout | 25 | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1997: Wigan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Roger Stott | 30,043 | 68.6 | ||
| Conservative | Mark Loveday | 7,400 | 16.9 | ||
| Liberal Democrat | Trevor Beswick | 4,390 | 10.0 | ||
| Referendum Party | Anthony Bradborne | 1,450 | 3.3 | ||
| Green | Christopher Maile | 442 | 1.0 | ||
| Natural Law | W. J. Ayliffe | 94 | 0.2 | ||
| Majority | |||||
| Turnout | |||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
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