Wakefield Councillor Tom Gordon is the new Liberal Democrat candidate for the Batley and Spen by-election.
He was chosen to fight the seat after previous candidate Jo Conchie stood down for health reasons.
Tom announced the news on Twitter:
I am pleased to announce that I am standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate at the Batley & Spen by-election.
I wish Jo well, following what must have been a difficult decision to stand down. pic.twitter.com/tEZu5OIrhh
— Cllr Tom Gordon (@tomgordonLD) June 3, 2021
The by-election takes place on 1st July and was caused by the election of Tracy Brabin, the former MP, as West Yorkshire’s mayor last month.
Tom won his council seat from Labour in 2019 with 63% of the vote following a spirited campaign. He was joined by Adele Hayes last month. She got 54%.
All good wishes to previous candidate Jo Conchie.
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4 Comments
Well done and good luck Tom 👍
Good luck, Tom. Should be an interesting campaign.
HI! I have been a lib dem member in the past. I was really shocked to find that the Lib Dems fielded a candidate in the Batley and Spen by election. The win for the labour candidate was incredibly slim and could have gone either way. The current conservative government need to be opposed by a progressive alliance that is above party politics, with the LIb dems, labour and greens co-operating so that the vote is not split in this less than idea first past the post system. Having the current conversatives in power is dangerous. There is clear evidence of corruption, incompetence, links to Russia and big companies in the US. The current incumbents do not have the interests of ordinary citizens at heart. The situation is too dangerous and unprecedented for party politics. I would like to receive a response as to why the lib dems thought it was wise to field a candidate in Batley and Spen in the current climate. Thanks.
@ Marion,
The answer is two-fold.
Firstly, the evidence from our councillors there was that, if we had stood down, more of our voters would have opted to vote Conservative rather than Labour. Thus, fielding a candidate hurt the Conservatives more than Labour.
Secondly, there are parts of the constituency where the Party has hopes of making progress at Council level, and running a candidate in the by-election supports those ongoing campaigns.