There was a longer than normal gap between a seat falling vacant and the by-election. On 22 July, during a brief debate in the House of Commons, the UK Government refused to move the writ before the summer recess.[5]
It is a convention (not always observed in practice) that mainstream political parties do not contest elections against sitting Speakers of the House of Commons. As such, Michael Martin won Glasgow North East without his former Labour Party label, and neither the Conservative nor Liberal Democrat parties had fought the constituency (or its predecessor, Glasgow Springburn) in either 2001 or 2005.
This was the last by-election of the 2005–2010 parliament.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) selected David Kerr. They had previously selected James Dornan, their leader on Glasgow City Council,[7] but on 12 July he announced that he was withdrawing as a candidate following allegations in the Sunday Herald over past financial difficulties.[8]
The Scottish Socialist Party decided to stand Kevin McVey, a party organiser from Cumbernauld who promised to reject the £64,000 MP's salary and "live instead on the average skilled worker's wage – not a penny more".[11] On the ballot paper the party opted to use the description "Scottish Socialist Party – Make Greed History"
Solidarity initially called on the SSP, the Socialist Labour Party and themselves to adopt a "left unity" candidate.[12] However, they later announced that they had selected Tommy Sheridan to fight the by-election, claiming he might have stood down in favour of a left unity candidate.[13] On the ballot paper the party used the full description "Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement"
Former Big Brother housemate Mikey Hughes stood as an independent candidate.[14]
The Jury Team, an umbrella organisation aiming to support Independent candidates in UK elections, selected John Smeaton, the former Glasgow Airport baggage handler who became known for his intervention during the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack as its first candidate for a Westminster election.[16] On declaration of his candidacy in September, he was given the third shortest odds to win the seat.[17]