POLLING stations across Brecon and Radnorshire opened at 7am this morning as voting gets underway in the by-election.

All polling stations will remain open until 10pm tonight when counting will get underway at the Royal Welsh Showground at Llanelwedd, near Builth Wells.

The eyes of Britain will be on the count, with Powys council expecting possibly as many as 90 journalists and media staff to attend the count, with a victory for anyone other than Conservative candidate Chris Davies cutting new PM Boris Johnson’s majority to just one.

The Conservative are stressing returning 51-year-old Mr Davies, whose conviction over expenses offences led to a recall petition that triggered the by-election, is the surest way to bolster the government and its commitment to Brexit.

But while Mr Johnson has sought to make clear Britain will leave the European Union on October 31 with or without a deal warnings of the potential devastating impact of a no-deal Brexit, including on the agricultural economy, have been constant throughout the campaign.

The seat is tipped to be won by Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds with her party committed to a further referendum and campaigning to remain. The 55-year-old child protection social worker has been criticised by opponents having previously stood unsuccessfully for the party in Montgomeryshire.

Results of the 2016 EU referendum were counted on a county basis and Powys voted 53% leave and 46% remain.

The Conservatives are also being pushed from the right, and the opposite direction on leave and remain from the Lib Dems, by the Brexit Party whose candidate is former Dyfed-Powys Police superintendent Des Parkinson.

The 71-year-old, who has previously stood, without success, for UKIP in Welsh Assembly and Police and Crime Commissioner elections, as well as for the Conservatives at last year’s Powys council elections, insists his party can push for a better Brexit deal than the Conservatives and keep the governing party’s feet to the fire over the issue. It would also leave without a deal.

Labour is represented by 29-year-old Brecon town councillor, and barrister, Tom Davies who said while his party is committed to holding a referendum on any agreed deal, and is against no-deal, he believes the election is about sending the Conservative government an anti-austerity message.

Though Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have stood aside to support the Lib Dems as a remain party Ms Dodds has also sought to highlight issues other than the debate around EU membership during the campaign.

UKIP’s candidate is former Rhayader resident Liz Phillips who works as a personal assistant to former UKIP leader Gerard Batten. The sixth candidate is the Official Monster Raving Loony Party’s Lady Lily the Pink who is appealing to those who aren’t impressed by any of the other candidates with the slogan "if you don’t know what to think, vote Pink." She runs a guesthouse in Llanwrtyd Wells.

On Tuesday, 48 hours before polling day, PM Boris Johnson visited a business in Brecon with candidate Chris Davies and said he had no concerns over the way the election had come about after Mr Davies admitted false expenses claims.

Though he was entitled to claim back the £700 costs of photographs for his constituency office in Builth Wells he fell foul of the rules by creating two false invoices to split the cost between two expenses accounts.

Mr Davies has said he has acknowledged he made a mistake, while still a relatively new MP in April 2016, and is asking voters to judge him on his record since he was first elected in 2015 when he took the seat from the Lib Dems.

The Lib Dems held the seat from 1997 to 2015 but Mr Davies increased his majority to 8,038 at the 2017 general election.

Just over 10,000 people signed the recall petition during the six week period it was open.

A result is expected sometime after 2am.

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