GEORGE Galloway has vowed to challenge the results of the Batley and Spen by-election in courts after his Workers Party placed third.
Kim Leadbeater, the sister of murdered MP Jo Cox, successfully won the seat for Labour despite polling indicating a Tory win. However, Labour’s majority has been reduced from 3525 to 323.
The Conservatives had been hoping to secure a second by-election win in the north of England following their historic success in Hartlepool earlier this year.
READ MORE: Batley and Spen by-election: Labour's Kim Leadbeater beats Tories
Galloway, fresh from his failed Scottish Parliament bid with All for Unity, stepped in to the seat to capitalise on discontent with Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership.
The contest saw his Workers Party clash with Labour supporters on issues like Kashmir and Palestine as the parties sought to secure votes from the area’s Asian communities.
The final results, announced this morning, had Leadbeater on 13,296 (35.3%), the Conservatives Ryan Stephenson on 12,973 (34.4%) and Galloway on 8264 (21.9%).
Convicted racist Jayda Fransen, who also sought publicity in the Scottish Parliament election by running in Nicola Sturgeon’s Glasgow Southside constituency, won just 50 votes.
Speaking after the count, Galloway said he would be taking legal action. He claimed his election effort had been damaged by a “false statement” that he laughed while 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.
“You’ll be hearing much more of this from me directly from the horse’s mouth over the next hours and days.”
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