Labour’s Kim Leadbeater has won the Batley and Spen by-election in a result which will ease pressure on party leader Sir Keir Starmer.
The by-election had been seen in some quarters as an acid test of Sir Keir's rein as Labour leader, with reports that some sections within the party were preparing a leadership bid against him.
Ms Leadbeater - the younger sister of Jo Cox, who was murdered in Batley by a far-right extremists in June 2016 during the EU referendum campaign - managed to hold the Conservatives, pipping them to the seat by just 323 votes.
Kim Leadbeater said: “I’m absolutely delighted that the people of Batley and Spen have rejected division and they’ve voted for hope.” She thanked her family saying “without them I could not have got through the last five years nevermind the last five weeks.”
Sir Keir praised the "brave and brilliant" Ms Leadbeater, hailing the result as "fantastic".
He said: “Kim ran a positive campaign of hope, in the face of division."
“She will be an outstanding Labour MP for Batley and Spen.”
A senior Labour source said: “Everyone’s been calling this a referendum on Keir’s leadership.
“Well we’ve won – bucked the trend, held onto this marginal seat and advanced in Tory areas. A fantastic result.”
George Galloway, who came third in the contest, said he would apply to have the result set aside by the courts.
A rundown of the final count from the Batley and Spen by-election.
GB News
Speaking outside the count, he said his election effort had been damaged by a “false statement” that he had laughed while Labour’s Kim Leadbeater was abused on the campaign trail.
“The whole election campaign was dominated by lazy and false tropes about our campaign, about the thousands of people that voted for us, about their motives for doing so, in a way which defamed them as much as it defamed me,” he said.
“So on multiple grounds we will apply to the courts for this election result to be set aside.”
More follows.
