SIR - I am a paid-up Liberal Democrat and a retired schoolmaster so I don't carry a torch for the Labour Party. I do, however, have a keen interest in objective reporting of the news and commentators getting the perspective right.
Too many in the media have emphasised the narrowness of the Labour victory in Batley and Spen and talked in terms of “a narrow squeak”. I disagree for two main reasons.
First, in 2019 when Tracy Brabin won with 22,500 votes, Paul Halloran came third with 6,400 votes with the Conservative on 19,000. One might say that had Paul Halloran not split the right wing vote, the Conservatives would have taken the seat in 2019.
This year Paul Halloran chose not to stand whilst George Galloway got himself nominated with the clear intention of spiking Labour's guns. Kim Leadbeater was thus fighting an uphill battle. Compared with 2019 the right wing vote was no longer split but the Labour vote was.
Under these circumstances Ms Leadbeater and Labour can regard the result as a resounding success.
Too often our media will take a superficial look at the numbers and simply emphasise the closeness of the result. Put into context, this is quite a significant Labour victory.
John Cole, Oakroyd Terrace, Baildon
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