The Guardian view on the Runcorn and Helsby byelection: a punch we will all feel | Editorial

These Cheshire voters will choose a new MP and set the course of British politics for the next four yearsWhen a government has a working majority as large as Labour’s and probably four years still to run in office, a tricky early byelection may seem a relatively minor distraction. Yet the expected byelection in Runcorn and Helsby is freighted with significance. This first big electoral test for Sir Keir Starmer’s government could also become one of its defining political moments.Labo