Labour leader Keir Starmer faces twin tests of the UK opposition party’s popularity, as voters go to the polls to fill two parliamentary seats that were last won comfortably by the ruling Conservatives.

Starmer is attempting to overturn big Tory majorities in different parts of England — Mid Bedfordshire, a collection of small towns and villages north of London, and Tamworth, a rural area in northwest England. Success in either would reinforce speculation that Labour is on track to return to power for the first time in 14 years in a general election expected sometime in 2024.