Batley and Spen was a

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

. The most recent MP was Kim Leadbeater, a Labour politician, who was elected in a 2021 by-election by a 323-vote margin. The seat had returned Labour MPs since the 1997 general election. In the

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 review of Westminster constituencies was the most recent cycle of the process to redraw the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, constituency map for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The new constituency b ...

, the town of

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

was moved to the new constituency of

Dewsbury and Batley Dewsbury and Batley is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament, represented since 2024 by Iqbal Mohamed, an Independent. It was created following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, and first contested in ...

, and the remainder of the constituency was renamed Spen Valley. The new constituencies were first contested in the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

Constituency profile

The area is in the rolling

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

with considerable commerce, industry, retail and occupational trades. A lower percentage of

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

is present than the regional average, however most of the larger settlements have some social housing. The population in the district is ethnically diverse. Many of the towns in the Spen Valley have few residents from non-white heritage backgrounds ( Birstall, Birkenshaw,

Cleckheaton Cleckheaton is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Bradford, east of Brighouse, west of Batley and so ...

Liversedge Liversedge is an industrial town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Liversedge lies between Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike. The Kirklees ward is now called Liversedge and ...

and

Gomersal Gomersal is a town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England. It is south of Bradford, south west of Leeds. east of Cleckheaton and north of Heckmondwike. It is close to the River Spen and forms part of the Heavy Woollen District ...

, generally more suburban and Conservative areas, with the exception of

, which has

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

councillors). However, the constituency's largest town,

, has a sizeable number of residents with

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

n backgrounds, namely

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

(9.2%) and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n (mostly

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

) (15.9%).

Heckmondwike Heckmondwike is a town in the Kirklees district, West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. It is in the Spen Valley parliamentary constituency ...

also has a well-established South Asian community with 16.9% residents having Pakistani heritage. The results of the last fifty years show marginal majorities for Labour and for the Conservatives, and is considered to be part of the " red wall". In the

2016 EU referendum The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions o ...

, Batley and Spen voted 60% in favour of

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

Boundaries

*1983–1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees wards of Batley East, Batley West, Birstall and Birkenshaw, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike, and Spen. *1997–2010: The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees wards of Batley East, Batley West, Birstall and Birkenshaw, Cleckheaton, and Spen. *2010–2024: The Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees wards of Batley East, Batley West, Birstall and Birkenshaw, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike, and Liversedge and Gomersal. The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of

Batley and Morley Batley and Morley was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Batley and Morley in West Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The constituency was ...

, Brighouse and Spenborough and

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

. This

constituency covers

, Birkenshaw, Birstall,

, East Bierley,

, Hunsworth, and

History

The constituency did not exist in its present form before 1983 and has seen significant boundary changes since its creation – most notably those that took effect for the 1997 general election.

was part of the seat from its creation in 1983 until 1997, when it was transferred to

. Heckmondwike was returned to Batley and Spen for the 2010 general election. The seat swung in Labour's favour in the elections of 1997, 2001 and 2005 though the Conservatives reduced the Labour majority in 2010 with a swing below the national average. The electoral ward of Heckmondwike (which includes part of

) was considered part of the Spen Valley (although it was not part of the former

Spenborough Spenborough was, from 1915 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Yorkshire, West Riding, England. Spenborough was created as an urban district in 1915 by the merger of Cleckheaton, Gomersal and Liversedge urb ...

Urban District). Heckmondwike ward was for many years a Labour stronghold, but in the 2000s elected two BNP councillors. The BNP councillors were narrowly defeated by Labour in 2007 and 2008. A by-election in 2016 occurred after the

murder of Jo Cox On 16 June 2016, Jo Cox, a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen, died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, West Yorkshire. In November 2016, ...

, the sitting MP. Cox was killed on 16 June 2016 after being shot and stabbed multiple times by a man associated with far-right organisations. The Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats,

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

announced they would not contest the by-election as a mark of respect. Another by-election occurred in 2021 following the resignation of

Tracy Brabin Tracy Lynn Brabin (born 9 May 1961) is a British politician who has been the Mayor of West Yorkshire since the office was established on 10 May 2021. She was previously the Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen from 2016 to 2021 under ...

MP, who was elected

Mayor of West Yorkshire The mayor of West Yorkshire is a directly elected mayor responsible for the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire in England. The mayor chairs and leads the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and assumes the office and powers of the West Yorks ...

on 10 May. The 2021 by-election received considerable media attention because of expectations of a Labour loss following the earlier Hartlepool by-election and a high-profile campaign by

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...

for the

Workers Party of Britain The Workers Party of Britain (WPB), also called the Workers Party of Great Britain (WPGB) or Workers Party GB, is a Socialism, socialist and Social conservatism, socially conservative political party in the United Kingdom, strongly identified ...

. The by-election was despite the expectations won for Labour by Jo Cox's sister, Kim Leadbeater, with a reduced majority.

Members of Parliament

'' Batley & Morley, Brighouse & Spenborough, and

prior to 1983''

Election results 1983–2024

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 2010s

a. Swing is calculated from the 2015 election, not the 2016 by-election which was not contested by major parties. Aleks Lukic's vote change is in comparison to the 2015 election, when he stood as a UKIP candidate.

Elections in the 2020s

A by-election was held on 1 July 2021 following the

resignation Resignation is the formal act of relinquishing or vacating one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or ...

of MP

to become

Notes

References

External links

Batley and Spen UK Parliament constituency
(boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at ''MapIt UK''

(boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at ''MapIt UK'' {{Authority control Parliamentary constituencies in West Yorkshire (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2024 Politics of Kirklees