THE Prime Minister has condemned ugly scenes in Batley and Spen over the weekend as tensions rise in the by-election race.

It comes as newly-elected West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin said she was leafleting with “colleagues, volunteers, campaigners” in the Whitaker Street area of Batley on Sunday when they “were followed, verbally abused and physically assaulted by a group of young men”.

Read more: Labour activists ‘egged, pushed and kicked’ on Batley and Spen campaign trail

Ms Brabin, who was the Labour MP for the constituency before winning the metro mayor job in May, said: “The group I was with included young people and the elderly. I witnessed them being egged, pushed and forced to the ground and kicked in the head”.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed on Sunday evening that they are investigating.

Speaking on a visit to PPG Architectural Coatings in Birstall, Boris Johnson said he found the reports "utterly sickening and appalling" and said Conservative candidate Ryan Stephenson is campaigning on a "positive message for change and progress" in the constituency. 

But, he said the Conservative Party was "fighting for every vote".

"I think we have to recognise that Batley & Spen has been held by Labour for decades and it's going to be obviously be a tough fight, that's clear, but I think Ryan has got a fantastic, positive message for change, " he said.

When questioned on the amount of money - £1.5 million - allocated through the Towns Fund to Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Batley and if the funding would be increased if a Tory MP was elected, Mr Johnson said he thought Mr Stephenson would be a “great champion” for the area.

He added: “If I had a complaint about Labour in some parts of the country, it’s been too easy to complain about things, but not actually come forward with plans for taking it forward and I think Ryan has a vision for positive change and progress.”

On the visit, the Prime Minister defended the delay to Matt Hancock’s resignation as health secretary as being “about the right pace” during a pandemic.

He said: “I read the story on Friday and we’ve got a new Health Secretary in post on Saturday and I think that’s about the right pace to proceed in a pandemic.”

Labour accused Mr Johnson of “trying to rewrite history” by indicating on Monday that he acted over concerns that Mr Hancock undermined coronavirus messaging by breaching Covid-19 guidance when he kissed an aide.

This ran contrary to No 10’s insistence on Friday that Mr Johnson “considers the matter closed” in standing by the then-minister and his ultimate resignation the following day.

Downing Street said the pair held talks on Saturday and, having “discussed it further”, Mr Johnson backtracked to agree that Mr Hancock had to stand down.

During the visit to Birstall, Mr Johnson suggested he acted over Mr Hancock because it undermined the Government’s message that the nation has been in the pandemic together.

“That’s right,” Mr Johnson told broadcasters. “And that’s why, when I saw the story on Friday, we had a new Secretary of State for Health in on Saturday.”

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Mr Johnson of trying to take credit for the resignation and said that “serious unanswered questions” remain.

“Boris Johnson is trying to rewrite history because he didn’t have the guts to sack Matt Hancock,” Ms Rayner said.

When asked if police should investigate Mr Hancock's breach of Covid rules and if he would support such an investigation, he told reporters: "Obviously that's an operational matter for the police, not something you would expect me to comment on, but I think the crucial thing for the public, for everybody, is that when I saw the story on Friday, notwithstanding the difficulties the country faces during a pandemic, we had a new Secretary of State for Health on the Saturday."

The Prime Minister also said July 19 would very likely remain the date for ending coronavirus restrictions following talks with his new Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

“I had a good conversation yesterday, a long meeting with Sajid Javid the new Health Secretary," he said.

“Although there are some encouraging signs and the number of deaths remains low and the number of hospitalisations remains low, though both are going up a bit, we are seeing an increase in cases.

“So we think it’s sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach, use the next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can of that vaccine rollout – another five million jabs we can get into people’s arms by July 19.

“And then with every day that goes by it’s clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that we’re very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that really is the terminus and we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible.”