London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Batley and Spen: Labour is back after by-election win, says Starmer

Batley and Spen: Labour is back after by-election win, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer has declared "Labour is back" after the party held on at the Batley and Spen by-election.

The Labour leader headed to the West Yorkshire constituency to celebrate Kim Leadbeater's narrow 323-vote win.

He said it was a victory for "hope over division, and decency over hatred", after a bitter campaign, and "just the start" for Labour.

Ms Leadbeater will now represent the seat previously held by her sister Jo Cox, who was murdered there in 2016.

Sir Keir hailed her "incredible courage" in standing for the seat, and claimed "Labour is coming home".

Writing in the Guardian, he also promised the by-election would be "a turning point, a sign that the politics of division and dishonesty won't win out, that unity and decency can".

The result will come as a relief to Sir Keir, who has been under pressure following recent election defeats for his party.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson ran an "incredibly positive campaign" and "did very well to reduce a longstanding Labour majority".

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Johnson claimed the by-election result was the "third biggest swing in favour of the government since the War".

Ms Leadbeater took the seat with 13,296 votes, giving her a slim victory over Mr Stephenson with 12,973.

Former Labour and Respect MP George Galloway, standing for the Workers Party of Britain party, came third with 8,264.

The former Bradford West MP had sought to win support from the seat's Labour voters, with the aim of toppling Sir Keir as Labour leader.

His campaign had targeted voters unhappy at the party's stance on issues including the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and the disputed territory of Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan.

An ethnically diverse seat, about 20% of the population is from an Asian background, with just under 19% being Muslim.

Speaking in Cleckheaton, Sir Keir said Ms Leadbeater had won despite a split in Labour's vote, because "former Tory voters voted for her".

"The Tories had a clean hit, nobody was going against them, and they didn't win," he added.

Writing in the Guardian on Saturday, he said: "And as we emerge from restrictions, there is now a real opportunity to harness the solidarity and national spirit that we've seen over the last year.

"To make sure that after the last year of sacrifice, we build a more united, fair, and secure country.

"To rebuild our economy and our public services, to bring our communities back together and to put honesty and integrity back at the heart of our politics."


Sir Keir was reportedly facing a potential challenge from his deputy Angela Rayner if the party lost another northern English constituency to the Tories.

It comes after the Tories took Hartlepool, a once rock-solid Labour seat in May, alongside losing more than 300 councillors in England's local elections.

But Andrew Scattergood, co-chair of the Momentum campaign set up to campaign for former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, said the party could not "portray this as a massive victory".

"We squeaked it over the line and there are some serious concerns," he told the BBC News Channel.


The Batley and Spen result will take some pressure off Sir Keir Starmer.

The atmosphere in Labour circles at Westminster since May's local elections has been febrile.

Some Labour MPs fear things can only get worse - that more seats that were once safe are at risk.

There was a swing of nearly 3% from Labour to the Conservatives in Batley and Spen - if a similar swing was reproduced nationally, at a general election, Labour would have lost 11 seats.

Labour know their party's problems go deeper than the question of leadership - but preparations were being made for a worse result in Batley and Spen.

Sixteen candidates in total ran in the contest. Turnout was 47.6%, with 37,786 verified ballots cast out of a total electorate of 79,373.

The vote was triggered after the previous Labour MP for the seat, Tracy Brabin, became West Yorkshire's first elected mayor in May.

She first won the seat in a by-election after Ms Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist in Birstall, part of the constituency, in 2016.

Hancock resignation


The Conservatives fought a relatively low-key campaign, with Mr Stephenson saying he was focused on talking to voters about "the issues that matter here".

Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling said it had been a "disappointing result" for her party.

She said the recent resignation of Matt Hancock as health secretary after breaking social distancing rules was "one of a number of different issues that came up" that had been raised by voters on the doorstep.

But she added that for her party to "run this close" was still "exceptional", given it has been in government since 2010.


Sir Keir Starmer: "What a fantastic victory... of hope over division"

Kim Leadbeater MP: ''If I can be half the MP that Jo was, I know that I'll do her proud''


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×