UK Labour party wins North England Elections

In North England, the British Labour Leader Keir Starmer received a boost on Friday. He was fishing off the challenges from the governing Conservatives to stick to a parliamentary seat. If the seat lost, it would have brought more pressure on him to stand out.

The victory of the Labour party saw 13296 to 12973 votes in favor of candidate Kim Leadbeater in the Batley and Spen. It has handed Starmer much reprieve from the questioning like whether he can rebuild the main opposition party in Britain or not. The questions become more striking after the disaster that happened in 2019.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives had been cautious enough and hopeful. They could oust the Labour from another constituency of North England after winning the contest Hartlepool in may. But it fell short with only 323 votes.

The Leadbeater, sister of the former lawmaker of the region, Jo Cox, said, “I am absolutely delighted that the people for Batley and Spen have rejected division, and they’ve voted for hope.”

A neo-Nazi has murdered Jo Cox in the constituency in 2016. Starmer has welcomed this result. He said on Twitter, “Kim ran a positive campaign of hope, in the face of division. She will be an outstanding Labour MP for Batley and Spen.”

Labour has managed to hold its position after fighting all odds. The firebrand leftist George Galloway, the leader of the Workers Party in Britain, attempted to split the vote of the main opposition party. Also, the vote tarnished with some of the accusations and dirty tricks. After that, winning is a huge achievement for Labour.

With the difference of only 300 votes, the result of the by-election has shown that all the parties failed to capitalize on the weakness of the other. The conservative government is getting hampered with a slew of scandals. It includes the resignation of Matt Hancock last month. He stood down as the health minister after he got caught due to breaking the covid guidelines he had set. He kissed his aide.

Starmer has struggled enough to connect with the voters after becoming the leader. Sometimes he was unable to challenge the government, which has won the support for its successful COVID vaccination ventures.

The 2016 vote of Britain has transformed the political landscape of the country with the Conservatives. Some in the party also fear the strategy of Johnson for “level up”.But the by-election only offers partial evidence for the trends, as pollsters say. The poll in Batley and Spen may show a small part of the political picture, but it has much significance.

The Muslim vote has come to the front as Galloway challenged Labour. Labour also earned criticism for producing a leaflet that has the featured photo of Johnson and Indian leader Narendra Modi. It says: ” Don’t risk a Tory who is not on your side.”

Credits: CNBC