New by-election woe for Keir Starmer as ex-Coronation Street actress Tracy Brabin wins race to be West Yorkshire mayor meaning she will have to QUIT as Labour MP for Batley & Spen
- Labour MP Tracy Brabin has today been elected as the first West Yorkshire mayor
- But she will now step down from her Westminster seat, sparking a by-election
- It could bring more by-election for woe for leader Keir Starmer after Hartlepool
Keir Starmer faces the potential of more by-election woe after one of his MPs secured a mayoral seat.
Labour MP Tracy Brabin has tonight been elected as the first West Yorkshire mayor.
But it means Ms Brabin, a former Coronation Street star, will now have to step down from her Westminster seat of Batley and Spen.
This will spark a fresh by-election in the constituency. It comes just days after Labour’s humiliating by-election defeat in Hartlepool.
Labour MP Tracy Brabin has tonight been elected as the first West Yorkshire mayor
But it means Keir Starmer faces the potential of more by-election woe, with Ms Brabin now set to step down from her Westminster seat
The constituency, part of Labour’s ‘Red Wall’, turned blue in Thursday’s by-election as it was won by the Conservatives for the first time in the seat’s 47-year history.
Labour had a nearly 4,000 majority in Hartlepool from the 2019 election.
The party holds a 3,500 majority in Ms Brabin’s seat of Bartley and Spen – a West Yorkshire seat in the Pennines.
And there are likely to be fears of another defeat among Labour officials when voters in the constituency go to the ballot boxes.
The seat has been held by Labour since 1997, having previously been held by Conservative MP Elizabeth Peacock from its formation in 1983.