Batley and Spen: Labour narrowly wins seat in parliamentary by-election
Despite the expectations that Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson would win the Batley and Spen by-election, Labour's Kim Leadbeater pulled off a surprise victory by just 323 votes more than Stephenson.
Voters went to the polls on Thursday to decide their new MP between 16 candidates, following former Labour MP Tracy Brabin’s election to the new post of West Yorkshire's first mayor.
After she was confirmed to have won the by-election on Friday morning, Ms. Leadbeater said, "I'm absolutely delighted that the people of Batley and Spen have rejected division and they've voted for hope."
She depicted the campaign as a "grueling few weeks," appreciating police and stressing that she needed their help more than ever.
The police and election officials were prompted to intervene following several reports of dirty tricks and intimidation, including assaults, forged brochures, racism, and homophobia during the campaign.
Speaking of her sister, Jo Cox, the former MP who was murdered by a neo-Nazi in 2016, Leadbeater said, "She would be extremely proud," adding that "if I can be half the MP that Jo was then I'll be very, very happy with that."
Former MP George Galloway, from Workers Party of Britain, came third in the bitterly-fought parliamentary contest, vowing to challenge the result of the contest in the courts and take legal action "on multiple grounds" to get the election result "to be set aside."
Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer, for whom the result eased pressure, praised the "inspiring resilience" shown by Leadbeater "against the odds."
"Kim embodies everything I want the Labour Party to stand for: passionate about her local community and determined to bring people together," Starmer said, adding that "this result shows Labour at its best. This is just the start."
Batley and Spen was held by the Conservatives from 1983 until Tony Blair's landslide in 1997.
Conservative Party Chairwoman Amanda Milling depicted the by-election result as "really disappointing" and was at pains to admit that the resignation of former health secretary Matt Hancock played an important role in influencing the Tories' performance.
The final result saw Labour narrowly win with 35.19 percent of the vote to the Tories 34.33 percent, while far-right candidates, comprising five extreme nationalist groups winning just 1.4 percent of the votes combined.
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