Winchester City

This Hampshire cathedral city, the ancient capital of England, has a largely Conservative background but now the constituency would seem, fairly firmly in the hands of the Liberal Democrats.

At the last election, the party secured a majority of nearly 7,500 over the Conservatives.

The Lib Dems won the seat in 1997 with a majority of two over the Tories.

This was challenged in court and the result declared invalid.

At the ""repeat"" election, the Lib Dems won by a huge 21,000 lead.

The seat is remarkable for producing one of the lowest votes for Labour in Britain.

The present incumbent, Mark Oaten, is not fighting the seat this time.