CHRIS DAVIES will have to face a by-election after more than 10,000 voters signed a recall petition.

A 10% threshold, of 5,303 people, was needed to force the by-election with the petition triggered after the MP was convicted of submitting a false expenses claim for the cost of £700 photographs for his Builth Wells constituency office.

He admitted two offences under the Parliamentary Standards Act and ordered to carry out 50 hours of unpaid work, over the next 12 months, and pay a £1,500 when he was sentenced at London’s Southwark Crown Court in April. In total 19% of those eligible signed the petiton a total of 10,005 people.

He had created two false invoices, in April 2016, so the cost of the one original invoice could be split between two expenses accounts.

Rival parties have been campaigning vigorously in the constituency to gather enough signatures to force a by-election.