Bookies cut odds on Respect's Ridley

RESPECT candidate Yvonne Ridley’s odds have plummeted two weeks before the Rotherham by-election.

William Hill has shortened Ms Ridley’s chances to 6/1 from 33/1 earlier in the week.

Labour’s Sarah Champion is the favourite at 16/1 on to take the seat vacated after Denis MacShane resigned over expenses.

Tory Simon Wilson is 66/1, followed by both Michael Beckett from the Lib Dems and Ralph Dyson, representing Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts, on 80/1.

Labour candidate's last-minute decision to stand.

BY-ELECTION ROW: Full report, see tomorrow's Advertiser.