GEORGE Galloway, who came third in the Batley and Spen by-election losing out to Labour's Kim Leadbeater, has said he would apply to have the result set aside by the courts.

Ms Leadbeater took the seat with 13,296 votes, a majority of 323 over Tory candidate Ryan Stephenson after a bitter contest.

Speaking outside the count, Mr Galloway said his election effort had been damaged by a "false statement" that he had laughed while Ms Leadbeater was abused on the campaign trail.

"The whole election campaign was dominated by lazy and false tropes about our campaign, about the thousands of people that voted for us, about their motives for doing so, in a way which defamed them as much as it defamed me," he said.

"So on multiple grounds we will apply to the courts for this election result to be set aside."

It comes following Mr Galloway, of the Workers Party, launching “an urgent legal challenge” against Kirklees Council after falling foul of election campaign rules.

A senior Labour source said: "Everyone's been calling this a referendum on Keir's leadership.

"Well we've won - bucked the trend, held onto this marginal seat and advanced in Tory areas. A fantastic result."

Asked about George Galloway's performance, Labour national campaign co-ordinator Shabana Mahmood called his campaign "hateful and divisive" that "made people afraid of one another".

She added Ms Leadbeater will "advocate and represent local interests" when it comes to Palestine and human rights abuses in Kashmir.

Batley & Spen - full results: Lab hold
Kim Leadbeater (Lab) 13,296 (35.27%)
Ryan Stephenson (C) 12,973 (34.42%)
George Galloway (WP) 8,264 (21.92%)
Thomas Gordon (LD) 1,254 (3.33%)
Corey Robinson (Yorkshire) 816 (2.16%)
Therese Hirst (Eng Dem) 207 (0.55%)
Jack Thomson (UKIP) 151 (0.40%)
Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 107 (0.28%)
Mike Davies (Green Soc) 104 (0.28%)
Paul Bickerdike (CPA) 102 (0.27%)
Jonathan Tilt (FA) 100 (0.27%)
Anne Marie Waters (FB) 97 (0.26%)
Andrew Smith (Rejoin) 75 (0.20%)
Oliver Purser (Soc Dem) 66 (0.18%)
Jayda Fransen (Ind) 50 (0.13%)
Susan Laird (Heritage) 33 (0.09%)
Lab majority 323 (0.86%)
Electorate 79,373; Turnout 37,695 (47.49%)