Tracy Brabin wins Batley and Spen by-election and takes murdered Labour MP Jo Cox’s former seat
LABOUR have held on to their Batley and Spen seat after a by-election triggered by the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox.
Former Coronation Street actress Tracy Brabin won with a majority of 16,537, 85% of the vote, after the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Greens decided not to field candidates out of respect for murdered Labour MP Jo Cox.
Tracy finished ahead of English Demorcrat Therese Hirst - one of nine independent and fringe party candidates to contest the seat in a list which included representatives of the far-right National Front and BNP, who all lost their deposits.
Turnout was just 25% - one of the lowest by-election turnouts since the Second World War.
In her acceptance speech Tracy said: "This has been a difficult experience for all of us and tonight is a bittersweet occasion for me. That this by-election has had to take place at all is a tragedy.
"I hope Jo will be proud tonight of our community. We have shown that we stand together with one voice choosing unity and hope."
Counting was still continuing in Witney - the Oxfordshire seat left vacant following former prime minister David Cameron's decision to step down as a MP.
Tracy, who was heckled loudly by supporters of some of the rival candidates, said many of the people who voted for her told her they did not normally support Labour.
He said: "Well done Tracy4MP & great to see all the purveyors of hate lose their deposits."
After the result, Mr Cox also tweeted a picture of him and his wife at the 2015 general election count.
He said: "This was Jo at the general election count last year as I briefed her on the numbers. She was calm, serene and full of grace that night."
Mother-of-two Jo was allegedly shot and stabbed by crazed killer Thomas Mair who reportedly shouted “Britain first” during the senseless attack on June 16.
Her seat remained vacant since the fatal attack, which took place shortly before she was due to hold a constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds.
Tracy is likely to be the last MP for Batley and Spen as the constituency will be abolished under boundary changes proposed for the 2020 general election.
Voters in Witney are also deciding David Cameron's successor.
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Who were the other candidates?
Therese Hirst, English Democrats
Hirst is former leader of the Veritas party, a spin-off from UKIP which merged with the English Democrats, who want to split England from the rest of the UK.
She encouraged voters by saying: "A vote for me will give "The English" and "England" a voice in the UK Parliament for the very first time."
The party says it is not racist and is campaigning for a referendum for Independence for England, for St George’s Day to be England’s National holiday, for Jerusalem to be England’s National Anthem, to leave the EU, for an end to mass immigration and for the Cross of St George to be flown on all public buildings in England.
She also contested for the position of West Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner earlier this year but was knocked out in the first round of the votes after coming bottom in the poll.
David Furness, BNP
Furness was a candidate in the London Mayoral elections, running for far-right group the British National Party.
He described himself as a born and bred Londoner who "knows" Londons problems, which he attributes to "alarming levels of uncontrolled immigration."
Garry Mervyn Kitchin, Independent
Kitchin came fourth with 517 votes.
He was the only local candidate in the by-election. He said he chose to run because “basic democratic principles mean that, in every constituency, people have the right to a full range of candidates to choose from when they select their MP.”
Neil Humphrey (also known as Corbyn Anti), English Independence Party
Humphrey came fifth with 241 votes.
He was previously in Labour, UKIP, the Lib Dems and the English Democrats. He stood for the English Democrats at Berwick-upon-Tweed in the 2015 general election but only got 99 votes.
He struggled to have several offensive party slogans approved by the Electoral Commision when he set up the English Independence Party, including Keep Calm and Vote English, Hang Murders Death-Penalty, Just Hang'm High to Die and Sod Scottish Referendum.
He recently changed his name by deed poll to Corbyn Anti, which is what appears on the ballot paper.
Jack Buckby, Liberty GB
He was a member of the youth division of the BNP before leaving the party because he believed they were too racist. He ran as part of Liberty GB, another far-right party which has an alliance with the English Defence League and describes itself as "counter-jihad".
His decision to stand just three days after Jo's death sparked outrage after he released a video on Facebook claiming "the Labour Party has blood on its hands".
Henry Edmund Burke Mayhew, Independent
Mayhew came seventh with 153 votes.
Despite being listed as a candidate he seems to have had no presence in the by-election. The official list says he lives in the East Ham Constituency. A Henry Edmund Burke Mayhew stood for UKIP in West Ham in 2005, possibly the same person.
Waqas Ali Khan, Independent
He came third for UKIP at the 2015 general election in Shipley but is standing as an independent candidate to Mr Buckby, who he said would cause racial hatred and division in the constituency.
He previously said: “The party isn’t putting anyone up but I think it’s only right to give voters a choice.
“Jack is promoting anti-islamic views.
“He stands for everything that goes against British values and his presence within the region will cause further divide and hate amongst communities.
“I want to represent the Asian community and engage with everyone.
“I also believe that the Labour Party will parachute an elite politician into the Batley and Spen seat.
“I think if they win voters will feel like those in Bradford West, who had the high-profile George Galloway and felt like they had an absent MP for three years."
Richard Edmonds, National Front
Edmonds came ninth with 87 votes.
The former BNP deputy chairman and national organiser has been previously convicted of violent disorder after a race attack in London.
He's part of the National Front, a far-right party allegedly for whites only and with links to neo-Nazis.
It has never won a seat in Parliament.
He was the National Front's candidate for the 2012 Croydon North by-election but finished eighth out of twelve candidates.
Ankit Love, One Love Party
Love finished at the bottom of the pile with just 34 votes.
Mr Love was the youngest candidate in the London Mayor race but came last with just 0.2 per cent of votes. The British-Dogra musician, 32, is head of the little-known One Love Party who plan to make air pollution in London a priority, promote green cars and hydrogen fuel stations, ensure free higher education and legalise cannabis.
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