The 1931 Sunderland by-election was held on 26 March 1931. The by-election was held due to the death of the incumbent Labour MP, Alfred Smith. Smith and his Labour colleague Dr Marion Phillips had gained the two-member seat at the last general election from the Conservatives Luke Thompson and Walter Raine, who had first won it in 1922^[1] Another defeated candidate in 1929 was the Liberal Dr Betty Morgan, then aged 24.^[1] Both Thompson and Morgan contested the by-election.

The by-election saw Luke Thompson narrowly regain the seat he had lost in 1929 for the Conservatives. At the general election held later in the year, Thompson was returned with a greatly increased majority of over 23,000 votes, and his fellow Conservative Samuel Storey was also comfortably elected as the seat's second member.^[2]

More information Party, Candidate ...

General election 1929: Sunderland^[3] Electorate 101,875

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	YMarion Phillips	31,794	19.5	+0.2
	Labour	YAlfred Smith	31,085	19.0	N/A
	Conservative	Walter Raine	29,180	17.9	-7.4
	Conservative	Luke Thompson	28,937	17.7	-7.7
	Liberal	Betty Morgan	21,300	13.0	-4.8
	Liberal	John Pratt	21,142	12.9	+0.7
Majority			1,905	1.1	N/A
Turnout			163,438	81.1	-3.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

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