Tracy Brabin elected in the late Jo Cox’s constituency – right-wingers lose their deposits
![Tracy Brabin gives her victory speech after winning the by-election in murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox's Batley and Spen constituency [Image: Craig Brough/Reuters].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/161021-Tracy-Brabin-Craig-Brough-Reuters.jpg)
Tracy Brabin gives her victory speech after winning the by-election in murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox’s Batley and Spen constituency [Image: Craig Brough/Reuters].
It’s amazing they had the front to put up any candidates for the Batley and Spen seat in the first place, considering the former MP – the late Jo Cox – was shot and stabbed to death, allegedly by a supporter of their right-wing politics.
Yet when Tracy Brabin, having won the seat, spoke against the right-wing parties who had fielded candidates, they heckled with, “It’s called democracy, love”. Is it? Is it really?
Is it really democratic for an MP to be killed, allegedly by a right-winger, so right-wing political organisations can try to replace her? Is that what they call democracy?
If so, this country has fallen very low indeed.
The alleged killer is believed to have thought the UK’s membership of the EU was allowing too many immigrants into the country, and to have taken his frustration out on his MP, who had been campaigning for us to Remain, in the referendum.
So the right-wing heckle, “She’s a racist” is particularly tasteless.
But there it is. They lost. They have nothing left to do but complain from the sidelines.
By far the greater right-wing threat is the Conservative Party, which has lurched further towards fascism by adopting UKIP policies, in the hope of ending that party’s challenge to the Tories…
… And there is also the resurgence of the Liberal Democrats, whose support for the most right-wing UK government in living memory seems to have been forgiven by an electorate with an extremely short memory.
These are the real challenges Ms Brabin must now face. Let us hope she relishes them.
Tracy Brabin was heckled by far-right rivals during her acceptance speech on Friday after being elected as Labour MP for Batley and Spen in a by-election triggered by the killing of Jo Cox.
The path was left clear for Labour to win the election after the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Ukip announced shortly after Cox’s death that they would not be challenging the seat.
Yet far-right groups the British National Party, the National Front and Liberty GB all fielded candidates.
Turnout was just 26% – one of the lowest by-election turnouts since the Second World War. Brabin secured 85% of the votes, taking 17,506 votes.
Some of Brabin’s opponents reportedly shouted “she’s a racist”, “it’s called democracy, love” and “Coronation Street” during her victory speech.
Asked about the heckling, MailOnline reports that Brabin said: “It just shows who they are.
“The people of Batley and Spen have given me a mandate but they’ve lost their deposits.”
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At least the loathsome people who contested the seat lost their deposits.
Do wish we could loose them tho. Any chance of beaming them up Scotty?
Politics should be open to people from all kinds of backgrounds whether they have been TV soapstars, binmen ( sorry refuse disposal operatives!) or Flashman types from Eton.This was not a typical by-election of course as other major parties did not put up candidates. But the routing of the extreme right (? are they now still regarded to be to the right of Mays Monster Loony Party) is a good sign.
Well two points UKIP is not facist it has members for all the old three parties so if UKIP is fascist it would be correct to assume that so is every traditional party, not wanting to be governed by or indeed govern other nations is not a fascist ideal anyway. Secondly it has never been proven why this murder took place, so to pretend that the assumption is fact is rather a dire position to take. Indeed it was never anything other than conjecture by pro eu supporters that the death had anything to do with Brexit whatsoever. Perhaps Nmac can explain why people taking part in a true democratic event are loathsome, surely it is those that thought the seat should not be contested are the loathsome anti democrats.
More accurate to say it has lured members of those other three parties towards its ideology. It doesn’t say anything about the other parties. If they were the same as UKIP, why would anybody leave them, and why have UKIP at all?
You’re right that the reasons Jo Cox died have yet to be proven – hence my confirmation that these circumstances are believed, are alleged, to be the case.
Barry it would do you good to look at the peoples profiles inside ukip, I have and believe me when they sit in a variety of right wing extreme groups, self denial would be the only thing stopping checking this out, secondly ukip languish on just 6% in the latest polls there can’t be many members left job done ruined the country with brexit, now no need for your dodgy independance party , oh forgot to say is yo-yo farage staying or going, one leader just surviving not 3 weeks and wolfenstein leaving for pastures bluer, I guess that’s a yes as there’s no candidate worth backing !