THE returning officer for the Batley and Spen By-Election has reportedly refused to allow a recount, despite the tiny margin of votes between Labour and the Conservatives being well within the threshold for one to be held.
The result for the fiercely contested By-Election has been announced as follows:
Labour: 13,296
Conservative: 12,973
Workers Party: 8,264
Lib Dems: 1,254
Yorkshire Party: 816
Recounts are held during most elections – both local and General – when the results are found to be extremely close. An example of this can be seen in the majority of elections in Peterborough, where, in 2017, a recount was carried out after the Labour Party received just 670 votes – still DOUBLE that of the vote margin in today’s result in Batley and Spen.
Candidates and their agents are entitled to request recounts. A Returning Officer must consider any recount request but may by law refuse it if they deem it “unreasonable”. In this instance, considering the extra perceived importance of this election, and the precedents set before it regarding recounts, it is clearly far from ‘unreasonable’ for a recount to be carried out.
Yet requests from both Mr Galloway and the Tory party were unjustifiably refused.
Calling the whole affair the workings of a ‘banana republic’, George Galloway, who received a huge vote share and helped to chip-away at Labour’s waning support from the local community, has vowed to challenge the suspicious decision by the returning officer.
Mr Galloway’s statement can be viewed below:
