THE battle for David Miliband's South Shields constituency seat could take place as early as May 2.

The Acting Returning Officer for the borough has advised that the election could be called early next month after Labour MP David Miliband stated last month that he wishes to step down after 12 years representing the town.

The former Foreign Secretary has been offered a job running the International Rescue charity in New York and intends to leave parliament officially this month.

Martin Swales, chief executive of South Tyneside Council and acting returning officer for the South Shields parliamentary constituency, said: “If the sitting Member of Parliament formally steps down in the next fortnight, the writ requiring a by-election to be held cannot be issued until 15 April, when parliament returns from recess.

“If that were to happen, I intend to arrange for the by-election to be held on Thursday 2 May.

“As part of the election process, I am required to set a deadline for the receipt of applications to be registered to vote or for proxy or postal voting.

"The law requires this deadline to be 11 working days before the by-election date.

"If the by-election date were to be May 2, this would mean a deadline of April 17.”

Mr Swales urged residents to register to vote if required.

He added: “Potential candidates in the by-election should note that if May 2 was polling day, the period for receipt of nominations would run from the day after the Notice of Election is published up to and including April 19 within the hours of 10am and 4pm each day.’’