June date for Inverclyde Westminster by-election

THE by-election to find a Westminster replacement for the late Labour MP David Cairns is set to be held on 30 June, it emerged last night.

Labour Party chiefs are today expected to move the writ for the Inverclyde contest.

Labour have selected local council leader Iain McKenzie to try to retain the seat while former SNP MSP Anne McLaughlin will contest the seat for the Nationalists.

Mr McKenzie, who has been council leader since February, saw off competition from Labour MSP David Whitton, one of a number of the party's high-profile victims of the SNP's landslide last month.

Mr Cairns won Inverclyde for Labour last year but the party was run close by the SNP in the equivalent seat at the recent Holyrood elections, with Duncan McNeil holding on with a majority of just 511.

The SNP candidate was a regional list MSP for Glasgow from 2009 until the elections in May.

In 2010, Mr Cairns, who died from pancreatic cancer, wonwith a majority of over 14,000 votes.