Voters go to polls in Crewe by-election » Housing » 24dash.com

Polls have opened in the hotly contested Crewe and Nantwich by-election, with the Tories hoping for their first victory over Labour in three decades.

The campaign has been a bad-tempered struggle between a resurgent Conservative Party and a bruised Labour Party.

Many in Labour have been concerned by the "class war" tone of its campaign which saw the party brand Conservative candidate Edward Timpson - a barrister whose family founded the Timpson shoe repair business - as a "Tory toff".

Meanwhile, all three main parties have poured resources into the constituency, which has been flooded with ministers and their opposite numbers over the past fortnight.

On Wednesday David Cameron accused the Prime Minister of hiding "in his bunker" by failing to visit Crewe and Nantwich during the contest, taunting him that he lacked the "courage" to lead from the front.

But speaking in the Commons, Mr Brown rejected the claim that he was an electoral liability. "He knows that it is the tradition that Prime Ministers don't go to by-elections," he added.

Tamsin Dunwoody is defending Labour's 7,078 majority in Crewe and Nantwich. Her mother, Gwyneth Dunwoody, held the seat until her death last month. The Lib Dem candidate is Elizabeth Shenton.