Several candidates were running on an
anti-corruption ticket; others using it in their campaign material, including Labour's. Several local issues also featured in the campaign, including local funding.
Katy Balls in
The Spectator analysed the effect that the variety of problems currently facing the government, and impacting Boris Johnson's popularity (which include tax rises,
English Channel migrant crossings and the controversy surrounding the resignation of Paterson, the former MP of the constituency), might have on the election result. She said that a Lib Dem source commented that "
Peppa Pig has come up more than sleaze" and that local issues such as the ambulance services, and questions over the Tory candidate being based in
Birmingham were being raised by electors. The
Financial Times reported that Labour strategists regarded North Shropshire as inhospitable for their party and not worth spending resources on. One Labour strategist suggested the Liberal Democrats stood a better chance in the seat, saying: "the Lib Dems have focused on Shropshire North and they'll probably end up a good second there. They came second in the recent local elections — from their perspective it makes sense for them to concentrate their resources there." Labour finished second in the constituency at the
2019 general election.
Ian Dunt, writing in the
i, suggested that despite standing a candidate "[Labour] seems to be standing aside for Davey so the Lib Dems can monopolise the anti-government vote" as part of an informal
Labour-Lib Dem pact, where one party stands aside to give the other a higher chance of beating the Conservative candidate.
The Guardian reported that Labour's Shadow Minister for International Development
Yasmin Qureshi "effectively acknowledged the party had deliberately left the field clear for the Lib Dems", after she said that "Labour are never going to win North Shropshire. The Lib Dems do have an opportunity to do so." A poll of
postal voters by the Liberal Democrats, reported on 2 December, put them in second place, with both the Conservative and Labour vote shares falling relative to the
2019 general election. A polling analyst said that these results should be treated "with a pinch of salt" because the polling methodology was not published. On 11 December
The Observer reported that an internal memo to Liberal Democrat staff stated that the Conservatives were only one percentage point ahead of the Liberal Democrats. In response to comments by the Conservative
Home Secretary,
Priti Patel, about the expulsion of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, the Liberal Democrat candidate, Helen Morgan, compared Patel with
Hitler's propaganda chief
Joseph Goebbels. Morgan later apologised for the "insensitive tweet which I have taken down". According to local newspaper the
Shropshire Star, Morgan had already apologised a few days earlier for comments from 2020 in which she "appeared to liken Channel migrants to Jews held at Auschwitz". During the campaign, a sitting Conservative councillor in the constituency, Anthony Allen, announced that he was defecting from the Conservative Party, saying they "were not Conservative enough", and joined the Reclaim Party. A second sitting Conservative councillor defected to Reform UK. In the wake of
partygate (a controversy over a reported Christmas party at
10 Downing Street that may have broken the
COVID-19 lockdown rules in place at the time) which broke on 7 December,
The Guardian reported that opinion in the constituency was divided, and
voter apathy had risen. The
Shropshire Star reported on 8 December that
bookmakers were divided over whether the Conservative or the Liberal Democrat candidate were the favourite to win the by-election, following partygate. The newspaper stated that, other than the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, "No other party has been seen as a likely challenger to the seat". By 11 December
The Independent reported that the Liberal Democrats were favourites with every major bookmaker. They also reported that the
Omicron variant, and poor weather conditions might affect the turnout. On 13 December it was reported that Reform UK candidate Kirsty Walmsley had tested positive for
COVID-19, and would therefore miss out on the last few days of the campaign as well as the vote count. ==Results==