Oldham West and Royton by-election, 2015
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
![]() Location of Oldham West and Royton within Greater Manchester
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Oldham West and Royton by-election was a UK parliamentary by-election held on 3 December 2015 in the constituency of Oldham West and Royton in Greater Manchester. This was the first by-election of the 56th UK Parliament.
The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Michael Meacher on 21 October 2015;[1] Meacher had been the Labour Party MP for the seat since its creation in 1997 and had represented its predecessor seat of Oldham West since 1970.
A writ for the by-election was moved in Parliament on 2 November 2015, setting polling day as 3 December 2015.[2][3]
Jim McMahon held the seat for Labour with a winning 62% of the vote, an increase of 7.3 percentage points. There was a 40.3% turnout.
Contents
Candidates
Six candidates contested the election; the statement of persons nominated was released by Oldham Council on 9 November 2015.[4]
The Labour Party, which last held the seat, selected its candidate on 5 November 2015[5] from a shortlist of four: Mohammed Azam, National Executive Committee member and former local councillor; Jane East, who contested the seat of Colne Valley unsuccessfully at the 2015 general election; Failsworth East councillor Jim McMahon, leader of Oldham Council; and Chris Williamson, former MP for Derby North.[6][7][8] McMahon won the selection, reportedly with 232 votes against 141 for Azam in the final round, after the elimination of East and Williamson.[9][10]
UK Independence Party (UKIP) came second in the constituency at the 2015 general election[11] and fielded a new candidate, John Bickley, who was runner-up at the by-election held in 2014 in the neighbouring constituency of Heywood and Middleton.[12] Others talked about as potential candidates were Paul Nuttall, the UKIP deputy leader,[13] and Steven Woolfe, both MEPs for North West England.[14]
The Conservative Party came a close third to UKIP at the 2015 general election and selected James Daly, a solicitor and Bury councillor,[15] who contested the Bolton North East constituency in 2015.[16]
The Liberal Democrat candidate was Jane Brophy, who works for the NHS in Greater Manchester and has served as a Trafford councillor for over 15 years; she was LibDem candidate for Altrincham and Sale West at the 2010 and 2015 general elections.[17]
Simeon Hart stood for the Green Party, having contested the constituency for the Greens at the 2015 general election.[18]
Sir Oink A-Lot stood for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.[19]
Results
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Jim McMahon | 17,209 | 62.1 | +7.3 | |
UKIP | John Bickley | 6,487 | 23.4 | +2.8 | |
Conservative | James Daly | 2,596 | 9.4 | -9.6 | |
Liberal Democrat | Jane Brophy | 1,024 | 3.7 | 0.0 | |
Green | Simeon Hart | 249 | 0.9 | -1.0 | |
Monster Raving Loony | Sir Oink A-Lot | 141 | 0.5 | N/A | |
Majority | 10,722 | 38.7 | +4.5 | ||
Turnout | 27,706 | 40.3 | -19.3 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +2.3 |
Aftermath
The result was considered by commentators as surprisingly good for Labour, who had been expected to be more closely challenged by UKIP,[21] and was reported as a boost for Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party.[22][23]
On the morning after the by-election, UKIP leader Nigel Farage and some other party sources claimed that there had been voting fraud particularly around ethnic minority voters and around postal votes,[24][25][26] with Farage claiming the vote was "bent" and that in constituencies with large numbers of ethnic minority voters who do not speak English "effectively the electoral process is now dead".[26][27] Paul Nuttall, UKIP's deputy leader, said to journalists: "You've got to ask yourself, is this Britain or is this Harare?"[28] However, others in UKIP downplayed the allegations,[29] with deputy chairman Suzanne Evans saying the party risks sounding like "bad losers".[28] Tom Watson, Labour's deputy leader, dismissed the complaints as "sour grapes".[27]
Farage stated that he was planning to make a formal complaint about the allegations.[30][31] Deputy leader Paul Nuttall wrote an open letter to Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government, raising concerns about postal voting processes.[32]
Results at the 2015 General Election
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Michael Meacher | 23,630 | 54.8 | +9.3 | |
UKIP | Francis Arbour | 8,892 | 20.6 | +17.4 | |
Conservative | Kamran Ghafoor | 8,187 | 19.0 | -4.7 | |
Liberal Democrat | Garth Harkness | 1,589 | 3.7 | -15.4 | |
Green | Simeon Hart | 839 | 1.9 | N/A | |
Majority | 14,738 | 34.2 | |||
Turnout | 43,137 | 59.6 | |||
Labour hold | Swing | -4.0 |
See also
- Oldham
- Royton
- Oldham West by-election, 1968
- Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election
- List of United Kingdom by-elections (2010–present)
- Parliament of the United Kingdom
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.