The Sheffield Brightside by-election of 13 June 1968 was held after the death of Labour MP (MP) Richard Winterbottom.^[1] The seat was very safe, having been won by Labour at the 1966 United Kingdom general election by over 19,000 votes^[2]

Candidates

Labour chose Edward Griffiths to defend their seat, who was an industrial chemist and a worker director at the British Steel Corporation^[3]
Colin Renfrew, for the Conservatives, was lecturer in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Sheffield
Robert Wilkinson was chosen as the candidate for the Communists
Ronald Guest, and Lt-Col H L Lambert, stood as independents.

Result of the previous general election

General election 1966: Sheffield Brightside
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Richard Winterbottom	26,653	75.90
	Conservative	Raymond Hadfield	7,476	21.29
	Communist	Howard Hill	989	2.82
Majority			19,177	54.61
Turnout			35,118
	Labour hold		Swing

Result of the by-election

By-election 1968: Sheffield Brightside^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Griffiths	14,179	55.21	-20.69
	Conservative	Colin Renfrew	8,931	34.77	+13.48
	Communist	Robert Wilkinson	1,069	4.16	+1.34
	Independent	Ronald Guest	918	3.6	New
	Independent	H. L. Lambert	586	2.3	New
Majority			5,248	20.44	-34.17
Turnout			25,683
	Labour hold		Swing

References

^ Craig, F.W.S. (1987). Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833–1987. Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 230.
^ [1] Archived 11 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine PoliticsResources.net
^ OBITUARY - Eddie Griffiths Independent.co.uk
^ "1968 By Election Results". British Elections Ephemera Archive. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2015.

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1966	July: Carmarthen
1967	March: Glasgow Pollok Nuneaton Rhondda West Honiton April: Brierley Hill September: Cambridge Walthamstow West November: Hamilton Leicester South West Manchester Gorton West Derbyshire
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