Shock Independent win for Dewsbury in Labour landslide for Kirklees

After a long night in Kirklees and thousands of votes counted, Dewsbury and Batley has an Independent MP, and Labour has taken the borough’s four remaining constituencies.

Going into the election, projections had shown that all five seats that cover Kirklees - Colne Valley, Dewsbury and Batley, Huddersfield, Ossett and Denby Dale, and Spen Valley - were expected to be held or gained by Labour, and this eventuality played out to a large degree at Huddersfield’s Cathedral House through the night. Here, votes were counted for four of the five seats.

Paul Davies (Colne Valley), Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield), and Kim Leadbeater (Spen Valley), were all elected to represent their constituencies, as was Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale) at the count in Wakefield. When it came to Dewsbury and Batley, Independent candidate, Iqbal Mohammad, was elected, taking almost 7,000 more votes than Labour’s Heather Iqbal.

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Below is a more in-depth constituency-by-constituency breakdown of how the night played out:

Colne Valley

The Colne Valley seat has been closely contested in previous elections, and this year saw Labour’s Paul Davies and Tory MP Jason McCartney competing for top spot, with Davies successful in this feat gaining 18,970 votes to McCartney's 14,007.

The seat has changed hands between Labour and Conservative several times in recent years, with 2017 seeing just over 900 votes securing the victory of Labour’s Thelma Walker, pipping Tory MP Jason McCartney to the post. Two years later, McCartney reclaimed the seat but was unable to cling on this time.

As for other parties, the election saw Reform’s Stuart Hale take 7,298 votes, and Heather Louise Peacock gain 3,480 for the Greens. Katherine Macy followed with 2,007 votes for the Lib Dems, with Yorkshire Party candidate Timothy Millea receiving 459.

Speaking on the stage following his win, Paul Davies said: “I recognise that there will be many people who have voted for Labour for the first time in this election and I thank them for doing so. And I reassure them that I will do everything I can to deliver the change the people have voted for.

“Of course, there will be those of you who have not voted for me and to all of you I assure you that I will work tirelessly in your interests as well and be a voice and representative for the whole of Colne Valley, Holme Valley and Lindley, in Westminster.”

Dewsbury and Batley

If Kirklees’ local elections were anything to go by, the Dewsbury and Batley seat was set to be an exciting battle between Labour’s Heather Iqbal and Independent Iqbal Mohamed. When it came down to it, Iqbal Mohamed was triumphant taking a sizable majority, with almost 7,000 votes separating him and runner-up Heather Iqbal.

Next was Reform with Johnathan Robert Thackray with 6,152 votes, followed by the Conservatives’ candidate, Lalit Raghunath Suryawanshi, with 4,182. Simon John Cope gained 2,048 votes for the Greens, and finally, the Lib Dems’ John Edward Rossington took 1,340 votes.

In his victory speech, the newly-elected MP said: “Dewsbury and Batley are no longer shackled to a failed party system that has dominated our towns for far too long. This is our opportunity to speak without fear, without favour, and with absolute honesty.”

Ossett and Denby Dale

Previously held by Mark Eastwood, the former Dewsbury seat had been Conservative for the past five years. Like Colne Valley, the seat has switched between Labour and the Tories before, with Labour holding power between 1987 and 2010, then again from 2015 to 2019.

At this election, Eastwood had opted to stand in the newly-formed Ossett and Denby Dale seat but Labour’s Jade Botterill was elected taking 39.3 percent of the vote, compared to Eastwood’s 28.9 percent. Reform came in next with Sandra Senior on 9,224 votes, followed by the Greens’ Neil Doig taking 2,132.

Then was James Wilkinson for the Lib Dems with 1,785 votes, and finally Yorkshire Party candidate David Herdson with 810 votes.

Huddersfield

As a traditionally safe Labour seat, there was little doubt Huddersfield would be anything other following this election. Harpreet Uppal will be continuing the town’s Labour legacy, taking the seat from outgoing MP Barry Sheerman, who served the town for an impressive 45 years.

Taking a comfortable majority, Harpreet received 15,101 votes, with Green candidate Andrew Cooper gaining 10,568. Next was Tory candidate Tony McGrath with 6559 votes, then Reform’s Susan Laird with 6,196 votes, and Lib Dem candidate Jan Alexander Dobrucki at 1,741.

Harpreet Uppal described her election as the ‘honour of her life’ and said: “Thank you to the people of Huddersfield for putting your trust in me and the Labour Party. After 14 years of Conservative failure you have demanded change - change for our town and change for our country.”

Spen Valley

A by-election in 2021 saw Kim Leadbeater clinch the Batley and Spen seat with a narrow victory of just a few hundred votes, taking over from Tracy Brabin who stood down to become Mayor of West Yorkshire. This time, standing for the recently-established Spen Valley ward, Kim’s majority certainly was not slim, with the MP taking 16,076 votes.

In second place was Reform's Sarah Louise Wood who took 9,888 of the votes, with the Conservatives coming closely in third with Laura Kathryn Evans on 9,859. Next up were the Greens with Sean Price taking 2,284 votes, followed by Independent Javed Bashir with 1,526 and Lib Dem Alison Brelsford with 1,425.

Kim Leadbeater said: “I can commit myself here and now to work for every town and village across our beautiful area with every ounce of energy I have - and as many people know, that’s quite a lot. To the people of Spen Valley - thank you for putting your trust in me and for believing that we can change things for the better. Not just here but across the country.”

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