Batley and Spen

[Merseymike]

I think the reality was that it wasn't really like a by election at all. It was Labour plus a bunch of fringe candidates. Noone expected anything other than a Labour win and few wanted to support the fringe candidates

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Indeed. The byelection was turned into a foregone conclusion, which led to the dire turnout.

[johnloony]

Oct 21, 2016 12:19:03 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

Seem to have been about 174 spoiled ballots - slightly higher than normal but not wholly exceptional.

There were 171 spoilt papers (we know because the R.O. declared the numbers): 153 uncertain, 17 voting for more than 1, and 1 identifiable. That makes a discrepancy of 3 between the verified total and the counted total.

[Sibboleth]

If we're being honest then, given the circumstances, it is actually quite likely that mainstream parties fielding candidates would have led to a bit of a local backlash against them. Which is why they didn't.

[iain]

Oct 21, 2016 16:12:42 GMT Sibboleth said:

If we're being honest then, given the circumstances, it is actually quite likely that mainstream parties fielding candidates would have led to a bit of a local backlash against them. Which is why they didn't.

Why do you think that? It didn't, for example, in Eastbourne.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

I don't think there would have been a backlash, so long as their campaign had been restrained (from what I saw, the Labour one was) and not indulged in personal insults.

[hullenedge]

Report/video from today's Examiner:-

www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/tracy-brabins-huge-labour-victory-12058332

[gwynthegriff]

Oct 21, 2016 16:29:41 GMT iain said:

Oct 21, 2016 16:12:42 GMT Sibboleth said:

If we're being honest then, given the circumstances, it is actually quite likely that mainstream parties fielding candidates would have led to a bit of a local backlash against them. Which is why they didn't.

Why do you think that? It didn't, for example, in Eastbourne.

This one - from the beginning - "felt different" from Eastbourne to me, and I still can't quite think why.

Was it because one was by an organisation, the other - it appears - by an individual?

Was it because one was striking against the government, the other against an individual constituency MP?

Was it - dare one suggest - that one victim was a male, older and from the right, the other a younger female from the left?

I honestly don't know.

[Devil Wincarnate]

My view is that the murder took away the electorate's right to select their representative, and therefore they should have had full chance to select the successor. Whilst I get why the main parties took that approach, I disagree with it.

[carlton43]

Oct 21, 2016 16:12:42 GMT Sibboleth said:

If we're being honest then, given the circumstances, it is actually quite likely that mainstream parties fielding candidates would have led to a bit of a local backlash against them. Which is why they didn't.

Why would it?

[The Bishop]

It would depend very much on how the campaign went, tbh.

Though I always felt the speed with which the Tories announced they would not stand (more or less forcing others to follow suit) smacked a bit of a publicity stunt.

[carlton43]

Oct 21, 2016 17:49:45 GMT The Bishop said:

It would depend very much on how the campaign went, tbh.

Though I always felt the speed with which the Tories announced they would not stand (more or less forcing others to follow suit) smacked a bit of a publicity stunt.

It was typically a Cameron emotive value statement by a rather duff politician. Thank goodness that man has gone. Knowing how I felt about him I can hardly imagine how it must be in Labour at present.

[Andrew_S]

I think perhaps the statistics produced by this by-election should be regarded somewhat in the same way that cricket test matches involving "Rest of the World" teams are regarded by most cricket statisticians.

[The Bishop]

Why? I see no more reason why it shouldn't "count" for the records than all the wartime byelections with limited competition. Or even Haltemprice/Howden a few years ago.

[andrew111]

tbh the thing I don't understand is why it took so long to hold this by-election.. Well, I suppose it had everything to do with Labour being totally preoccupied with internecine strife, but if I had been a Batley and Spen voter (as I nearly am, I was at a farm shop in the constituency 10 minutes drive away this morning), I would have been much more unimpressed by that than by the failure of the other parties to fight it...

[The Bishop]

Not sure if when to hold the byelection was entirely up to Labour, tbh?

[gwynthegriff]

Oct 21, 2016 18:17:44 GMT Andrew_S said:

I think perhaps the statistics produced by this by-election should be regarded somewhat in the same way that cricket test matches involving "Rest of the World" teams are regarded by most cricket statisticians.

Or Test Matches against Bangladesh who are clearly not competitive at that level, even at home.

Oh ... hang on a moment ...

[Merseymike]

Oct 22, 2016 11:10:26 GMT andrew111 said:

tbh the thing I don't understand is why it took so long to hold this by-election.. Well, I suppose it had everything to do with Labour being totally preoccupied with internecine strife, but if I had been a Batley and Spen voter (as I nearly am, I was at a farm shop in the constituency 10 minutes drive away this morning), I would have been much more unimpressed by that than by the failure of the other parties to fight it...

I think it was about the summer recess and wanting to have a period of respect goven the death of the previous MP.
Of course that whole strategy failed because of the fringe right deciding to stand candidates but then one doesn't expect decency ftom pond life.

[AdminSTB]

The maiden speech of Tracy Brabin:

[Deleted]

Boundary change proposals for Batley and Spen.