A healthy turnout is expected for the Batley and Spen byelection as voters head to the polls on an idyllic day in West Yorkshire. While turnout will be significantly down on the 66.5% attained at the 2019 general election, Labour and George Galloway’s Workers party both said they expected voters to come out to polling stations across the constituency. Labour activists were out in force on the final day of the contest, canvassing hard in the constituency’s major towns, Batley, Heckmondwike and Birstall. The party has been mobilising local activists, as well as bringing in additional support from all over the country to amass what it believes to be a far stronger campaign than the one seen in Hartlepool in May. Galloway’s campaign is determined not to be outmatched, however, with three cars patrolling the constituency all day fitted with public address systems to get out his message. “We’ve got some way to go, but we’re hopefully on track for a historic result tonight,” one Galloway official said in response to reports of a high turnout. Despite attention largely focusing on the fortunes of the Labour candidate, Kim Leadbeater, the sister of Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was murdered in 2016, and Galloway’s party, the contest is expected to be a straight battle between Leadbetter and the Conservatives’ Ryan Stephenson. Labour is defending a majority of more than 3,000 in the seat, but the bookies have the Conservatives as odds-on favourites. A recent Survation constituency poll put the Tories on 47%, up 11% from the 2019 general election, with Labour on 41%.
Tensions have flared between Galloway’s party and Labour supporters in recent weeks with accusations of voter intimidation being levelled by both campaigns. An elderly Labour activist was physically attacked and pelted with eggs last weekend. West Yorkshire police said an 18-year-old man from Batley had been arrested on suspicion of assault in connection with an attack on the group of canvassers. The campaign has primarily focused on hyperlocal issues such as the closure of the Batley police station and the suspension of a teacher at Batley Grammar after he used a depiction of the prophet Muhammad as part of a lesson. Speaking outside the polling station at Batley town hall, one voter, Mahmud, 64, said: “Our roads are atrocious and buses are diabolical. Politicians come here when they want our votes, but all the money goes to Huddersfield.” He said he was not sure if any of the parties “deserved” his vote, saying: “They’re all as bad as each other.”
The parties’ stances on international issues, including Kashmir and Palestine, have also been common talking points as Galloway has sought to play up the perceived disconnect between Keir Starmer’s Labour party and the area’s Asian community. The contest is a vital one for Starmer’s leadership after the party’s byelection defeat in Hartlepool in May. Labour remains optimistic that its candidate will be able to get over the line, citing late switchers from Tory to Labour in the Spen Valley. Speculation is rife as to what a loss would mean for Starmer’s position. His spokesperson has said he will not resign if Labour loses, but new polling this week suggested as many as four in 10 party members would want him to stand down and make way for new leadership in the event of a loss. The Batley and Spen byelection was triggered after Tracy Brabin, who won the seat for Labour in 2019 with a 3,525 majority over the Conservatives, was elected mayor of West Yorkshire in May.