Can Jo Cox's Sister Fend Off The Tories In The Batley And Spen By-Election?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-57205425
less than 3000 majority.

[Sunk]

Bye-elections are different from General elections, and are more prone to upsets, so a Tory could win it.
Labour held the seat while other red wall constituencies in West Yorkshire fell.

Too close to call.

[mushroom25]

in trying to give themselves the best chance, Labour have made a good start in selecting a candidate who was born - and still lives - in the constituency. rather than parachuting in a candidate who lives within a 10mn bus ride of the woke metropolitan islingtonian party glitterati.

[Ken4155]

Can she win? Of course she can win.
Will she win? Haven't a clue. Don't know enough about the mindset of her constituents to even hazard a guess.
If this were a horse race, it would be run without any of my money on it.

[Zacs-Master]

I think she’ll get in. A lot of voters will see it as a chance to redress the murder of Jo, who was a very well respected politician.

[davebro]

I think there will be an element of sympathy voting which will probably swing it for Ms. Leadbeater.

[New Judge]

Nepotism reigns.

When Jo Cox was tragically murdered, her mate took over the seat virtually unopposed. Now her mate is off to a new trough from which to feed (as an elected mayor) Jo's sister steps into the fray.

[Ken4155]

NJ, given that it is the electorate who vote people into office, wouldn't that have to be a collective nepotism? And is there such a thing?

[youngmafbog]

//A lot of voters will see it as a chance to redress the murder of Jo,//

And is that really a good thing for either her or the constituency? I would say not.

Who knows if she will win, against the valid point from ZM above the counter to that is that the cynics will wee it as a tugging at the heart strings by labour due to no decent and/or coherent polices.

As Sunk says - Too close to call.

[youngmafbog]

Not necessarily Ken given the voters are not given the choice in the Party candidate. So if you are a labour supporter then you must vote for her - there is no other choice.

[Paigntonian]

Probably. Sympathy vote for her and her family.

[Ellipsis]

Batley and Spen voted for Brexit a few days after Cox's murder for basically being a Remainer, so the sympathy vote was not evident then ...

[Sunk]

I didn’t know Tracy Brabin and Jo Cox were friends?

Both were Batly born and bred, so I suppose it was obvious that they would know each other.

Was it really a sign of nepotism that a fairly well known TV actress got the nomination to represent the seat.

There have been many family dynasties in politics - Jo & Boris Johnson. David & Ed Miliband. Nicholas & Anne Winterton. Were those Nepotism?

[ToraToraTora]

it's mid term, so normally I'd expect an amoeba in a red rosette to win a by-election in a labour seat but after what happened in Hartlepool I think the Tories have a real chance to win it. Labour are not putting up much of a fight these days and this is a desperate move to attract the sympathy vote.

[Untitled]

I bloody hope so!!!

[Jackdaw33]

Clearly Labour are desperately tugging at heartstrings here. Their candidate has only just joined the party, which has waived the rule about being a member for a year before being eligible. Under Thatcher and Major the seat was Tory-held. Very intriguing, and far too close to call.

[dannyk13]

sunk//well known TV actress//
She is an ex TV actress and has been for quite a while.

[Sunk]

The Conservatives and LibDems did not field candidates in the 2016 bye-election, much to their credit.
Jo Cox had a 6,000 majority which had whittled down to 3,000 by 2019.
With the present mess at the Labour Party, it is certainly do-able for the Tories to win. I can’t call it one way or the other.

The Conservative candidate is a Leeds Councillor, so can claim knowledge of the area and political experience. Kim Leadbeater doesn’t seem to have any Labour Party experience locally or nationally.

[Ken4155]

I would respectfully suggest that the good folk of Batley and Spen are not so easily duped, TTT, and they will vote for the person they deem fittest to do the job for their constituency.
To suggest anything else is very condescending.

[Sunk]

jackdaw33
My point was that 5 years ago she was sufficiently known locally to get the nomination. She has obviously been busy being the town’s MP ever since, so her TV work is well behind her now.

[Sunk]

Sorry, that should have been addressed to dannyk13.