Three MPs have stood down as councillors, triggering by-elections.

Medway Labour MPs Naushabah Khan (Gillingham and Rainham), Tristan Osborne (Chatham and Aylesford) and Lauren Edwards (Rochester and Strood) gave notice they will be resigning from Medway Council yesterday (December 16).

This follows their election to Parliament on July 4 at the general election.

Ms Edwards and Mr Osborne both represent the Rochester East and Warren Wood ward, while Ms Khan represents Gillingham South.

The Labour Group currently holds 31 seats on Medway Council, with another two Labour members who currently sit as independents while an investigation is ongoing into an incident.

This gives Labour a majority of seven, however depending on the outcomes of the three planned by-elections it could see this reduced.

Gillingham South has elected exclusively Labour members since 2015, prior to that electing Liberal Democrat councillors.

The ward has never elected a Conservative Party councillor since the creation of Medway Council.

The Rochester East and Warren Wood ward has, similarly, consistently elected Labour members, with a gap of 584 between the Labour member with the lowest vote (Tristan Osborne) and the next candidate (Conservative George Clark) in May 2023.

However, the three by-elections will focus attention from the main parties and be hotly contested.

If Labour were to lose all three contests, their majority would shrink to just one vote, with the Labour group holding 30 members and other parties combined holding 29.

In her resignation statement, Naushabah Khan MP (Lab) said: “It has been a real pleasure to serve as a councillor for Gillingham South, firstly in opposition and then part of the Labour administration.

“I am proud to have represented my hometown as a councillor and to have had the opportunity to fight for change and drive forward improvements for local residents, alongside my ward colleagues.

“I am determined to continue this work as the member of parliament for Gillingham and Rainham and believe that it is only right that, given the change in my duties, that I step down from my role as a local councillor.

“It has been the privilege of my life to serve as a Medway councillor and I am grateful for the residents of Gillingham South for giving me this opportunity.”

Medway Council’s Labour leader Vince Maple praised the three councillors for their time serving the authority and said he would not be complacent when fighting the by-elections.

He said: “In Tris, Naushabah and Lauren we’ve had three phenomenal cabinet members since when we took that historic victory last May.

“I was really pleased when they put themselves forward for Parliament and when the people supported them in being their voice in Parliament.

“Now we'll move forward to the by-elections and we will have three fantastic candidates who I hope will join us on the Medway Labour and Co-operative team here at the council.

“I'm always confident as we walk in but never complacent. We will work hard, we'll show our track record as an administration, showing that we've had to take some tough choices to balance the books.

“So we will work hard, and we hope that the people of both Gillingham South and Rochester East and Warren Wood will support our new three candidates.”

It’s understood the by-elections will be held on Thursday, February 6.