By-Election quiz - lesson starter

So, the by-election result for the Oldham West and Royton seat did not turn out to be such a political hot potato as many pundits thought. The Labour Candidate, Jim McMahon, comfortably retained the seat vacated by the death of Michael Meacher with a huge 62% share of the tournout.

By-elections, however, can often be quite contentious affairs, where protest votes against the incumbent party or government are more likely to be effective due to low turnouts (only 40% of possible voters turned out for the Oldham West seat).

Here's an interesting quiz on UK by-elections to provoke some debate in your class. It takes the form of a 'true or false' quiz where 8 'facts' about UK by-elections are presented and students must decide whether they are... true or false!

Click here to download the quiz 'Parliamentary By-Elections'.