Sir Kier Starmer apologises to the votes for disowning Labour’s candidate who ended up in 4th. But why is Starmer sorry, what happened at the Rochdale by-election?
Starmer believes that the reason why Galloway won was due to Labour pulling support over accusations of Azhar Ali being antisemitic. Speaking after the defeat, Sir Kier said to the BBC: “I regret we had to withdraw our candidate and apologise to voters in Rochdale.”
The by-election was triggered after Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd, who held the majority with nearly 10,000, died of blood cancer aged 73.
In his victory speech the leader of the Worker’s Party of Britain, Mr Galloway, described the Conservative and Labour leaders as “two cheeks of the same backside and they both got well and truly spanked tonight here in Rochdale”.
Reform UK have performed well in the recent by-elections coming 3rd in Wellingborough and Kingswood but candidate and former Labour MP Simon Danczuk was beaten in 6th place with 1968 votes.
David Tully (6638 votes), the Independent, runs a garage and is involved with Rochdale RUFC. He told BBC Radio 5 Live that he feels that he’s turned the heads of people who don’t usually vote because “nothing ever really changes with mainstream politics and parties.”
Below are the by-election results:
In a year destined for a general election, what do you think the consequences are for Labour? Answer in the comments below.
By Ieuan, Yr9
Carre’s Grammar School Sleaford