A by-election for the
United Kingdom parliamentary constituency
The Parliament of the United Kingdom currently has 650 parliamentary constituencies across the constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), each electing a single member of parliament (MP) to the House of Commons by th ...
of
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
was held on 23 June 2022. It was triggered by the resignation, on 3 May 2022, of
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP)
Imran Ahmad Khan
Imran Nasir Ahmad Khan (born 6 September 1973) is a British former politician and convicted sex offender who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield from the 2019 general election until 2022. Elected as a Conservative, Ahmad Khan ha ...
, who was elected as a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
at the
2019 general election and resigned following a criminal conviction for child sexual assault. Ahmad Khan was subsequently jailed for 18 months.
The election was won by
Simon Lightwood
Simon Robert Lightwood (born 15 December 1980) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield since the 2022 by-election, following the resignation of Conservative MP, Imran Ahmad Khan, who resigned foll ...
of the Labour Party, and was the first by-election gain made by Labour since
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
.
It was held on the same day as the
Tiverton and Honiton by-election in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
,
which the Conservatives lost to the
Liberal Democrats. This marked the first time since the 1991
Kincardine and Deeside
Kincardine and Deeside was formerly (1975–96) a local government district in the Grampian Region of Scotland. In 1996 it was included in the Aberdeenshire unitary area.
History
This region is rich in prehistory with numerous megalithic si ...
and
Langbaurgh by-elections that a British government had lost two seats in by-elections on the same day.
Background
Constituency
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
lies in the county of West Yorkshire. The seat covers most of
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
itself (besides the Wakefield South ward), the small towns of
Ossett
Ossett is a market town in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated between Dewsbury, Horbury and Wakefield. At the 2011 Census, the population was ...
and
Horbury
Horbury is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated north of the River Calder about three miles (5 km) south west of Wakefield and two miles (3 km) to the ...
, and the more rural parishes of
Crigglestone
Crigglestone is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It is recorded as "Crigeston" (along with neighbouring "Orberie") in the Domesday Book. The civil parish had a population of 9,271 at the 2011 Census ...
,
Sitlington
Sitlington, historically Shitlington, was a township in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Thornhill in the wapentake of Agbrigg and Morley in the West Riding of Yorkshire comprising the villages and hamlets of Middlestown, Netherton, Ove ...
,
West Bretton
West Bretton is a village and civil parish near Barnsley, West Yorkshire, England. It lies close to junction 38 of the M1 motorway at Haigh. It has a population of 546, reducing to 459 at the 2011 Census.
There is a school in the village, Wes ...
and
Woolley. In the
2016 EU referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
, 63% of the voters who turned out voted to
leave the European Union.
The by-election was expected to be the ninth or tenth of the
2019 Parliament. Before Ahmad Khan won the seat for the Conservatives at the 2019 general election, it had been held by the
Labour Party since the
1932 Wakefield by-election, when Labour gained the seat from the Conservatives. The seat is regarded as part of the so-called "
red wall", and Labour hoped to regain it.
Trigger
Ahmad Khan was first elected as the Conservative MP for Wakefield in the
2019 general election. He
lost the whip in June 2021 after being charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008. He sat as an independent for the remaining months of his tenure as MP. He was convicted of the assault on 11 April 2022 and expelled from the party, announcing his intention to
resign as an MP on 14 April 2022. On 25 April, Khan submitted his resignation, effective from 30 April, enabling him to claim his full pay as MP for the month.
On 3 May Khan was appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the
Three Hundreds of Chiltern, officially ceasing to be an MP. On 23 May Khan was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
On 17 May the
writ of election
A writ of election is a writ issued ordering the holding of an election. In Commonwealth countries writs are the usual mechanism by which general elections are called and are issued by the head of state or their representative. In the United ...
was moved by the Chief Whip,
Chris Heaton-Harris, formally triggering the by-election. It was scheduled to be held on 23 June 2022, the same day as the
Tiverton and Honiton by-election.
Candidates
Conservative Party
''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' reported that
Lord Frost
David George Hamilton Frost, Baron Frost (born 21 February 1965) is a British former diplomat, civil servant and politician who briefly served as a Minister of State at the Cabinet Office between March and December 2021. Frost was Chief Nego ...
was being urged by his allies to stand in the seat. In its ''Steerpike'' opinion piece, ''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'' discussed the prospect of Frost being the Conservative candidate, noting the ''Telegraphs support for the idea.
On 20 May 2022, the Conservatives published a shortlist of three candidates: Nadeem Ahmed, a Conservative councillor for Wakefield South ward and Leader of the Wakefield Conservative group from 2014 to 2021; Laura Weldon, council candidate for Wakefield West in the
2022 election and former Deputy Leader of the
Yorkshire Party
The Yorkshire Party is a regionalist political party in Yorkshire, a historic county of England. Founded in 2014, it campaigns for the establishment of a devolved Yorkshire Parliament within the UK, with powers over education, environment, tran ...
; and Tanya Graham, previously the Conservative candidate for
Bradford South in both the
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
and
2017 elections. Ahmed was chosen as the candidate on 22 May.
Labour Party
Mary Creagh, Labour MP for the constituency until the 2019 general election, confirmed in a statement on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that she would not be seeking to be the party's candidate for the by-election. Sources within the Labour Party initially suggested that
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Ex ...
, former minister and MP for neighbouring
Morley and Outwood, could be a potential candidate in the by-election with the backing of former Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
, as reported by ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. Balls responded on social media that he would not be putting his name forward as the Labour candidate.
In March 2022, ''
LabourList
LabourList is a British news website supportive of, but independent of, the Labour Party, launched in 2009. Describing itself as Labour's "biggest independent grassroots e-network", the site's content includes news, commentary, interviews, campa ...
'' wrote that Jack Hemingway, deputy leader of
Wakefield Council
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, also known as Wakefield Council, is the local authority of the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council and provides a full range of local government services inc ...
, was considered the frontrunner, but his name ultimately did not appear on the longlist, nor did three other local candidates who had put their names forward.
This was criticised by the local party for contradicting one of
Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...
's ten pledges during the
2020 Labour leadership election: "The selections for Labour candidates needs to be more democratic and we should end NEC impositions of candidates. Local Party members should select their candidates for every election."
The party announced four candidates for the longlist:
Community Union employee Kate Dearden; Sam Howarth, an employee of
Barnsley Central
Barnsley Central is a constituency in South Yorkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2011 by Dan Jarvis of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile
Barnsley Central is generally an urban seat and has a large m ...
MP
Dan Jarvis
Daniel Owen Woolgar Jarvis (born 30 November 1972) is a British Labour Party politician and former British Army officer who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley Central since 2011. He also served as the Mayor of South Yo ...
who previously worked for
Jenny Chapman
Jennifer Chapman, Baroness Chapman of Darlington (born 25 September 1973) is a British politician and life peer attending shadow cabinet as a Shadow Minister of State at the Cabinet Office since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she served ...
;
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
worker
Simon Lightwood
Simon Robert Lightwood (born 15 December 1980) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield since the 2022 by-election, following the resignation of Conservative MP, Imran Ahmad Khan, who resigned foll ...
, who formerly worked as a staffer for Creagh; and Rachael Kenningham.
Wakefield
Constituency Labour Party
__NOTOC__
A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency.
In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...
(CLP) selected Dearden and Lightwood for the shortlist, but the following day, the entire CLP executive committee (barring one externally appointed individual) resigned in protest at the absence of any candidates on the list who lived in Wakefield.
In a statement, they said: "We asked for local candidates, but there are none. Three prominent council and local Labour candidates, including the deputy council leader didn't even make it onto the 'long list'. A short list of four was requested by our representative on the panel to give members some choice but the NEC members insisted on just two."
Lightwood was selected on 15 May
[ on a turnout of 23% of local party members.] The local Labour committee walked out of the room, but ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported that "several officers appeared to be uneasy about the walkout".
Other parties
The Yorkshire Party
The Yorkshire Party is a regionalist political party in Yorkshire, a historic county of England. Founded in 2014, it campaigns for the establishment of a devolved Yorkshire Parliament within the UK, with powers over education, environment, tran ...
selected the Crigglestone-based former Conservative councillor David Herdson as their candidate. Herdson and independent candidate, Akef Akbar, are both former Conservative Party councillors.
The Liberal Democrats selected Jamie Needle as their candidate. Needle previously contested the constituency in 2019.
In May 2022, George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...
, who ran in the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, suggested he might stand in this by-election for the Workers Party, but ultimately he did not declare.
Opinion polls
Notes
Results
The by-election was won by Labour with a majority of 4,925 votes, or 17.9 percentage points, with a swing of 12.7% from the Conservatives towards Labour.
Previous result
Reactions
Labour leader Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...
said the election was a judgment on the Tories and Boris Johnson, and "if they had any decency they would get out of the way for the sake of the country". He said the result put Labour on track to form a government. He also said the people of Wakefield had exercised a judgment of no confidence in the Conservative government.
Political scientist Sir John Curtice
Sir John Kevin Curtice (born 10 December 1953) is a British political scientist who is currently professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research. He is particularly in ...
noted that of five consecutive by-elections defended by the Tories, they had only successfully defended one of them. He stated that the average drop in support in those five by-elections, of 20%, was the worst by-election record by a governing party since John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
's government. However, Curtice also wrote that it was unclear whether enthusiasm for Labour had materialised as in Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
's 1997 victory, and that Labour's victory was more due to tactical voting against the Conservatives. He pointed to Labour's smaller vote share than their 2017 performance in the constituency as well as some "disaffected" Tories voting for independent Akef Akbar instead.
Simon Lightwood
Simon Robert Lightwood (born 15 December 1980) is a British Labour Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield since the 2022 by-election, following the resignation of Conservative MP, Imran Ahmad Khan, who resigned foll ...
, the new MP, pledged in his victory speech to "restore trust" in politics, saying the result showed that Wakefield voters had tired of the "deceit and dishonesty of this onservativegovernment".
In the wake of Conservative losses in both Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, Oliver Dowden
Oliver James Dowden (born 1 August 1978) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since October 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertsmere since 2015.
Dowden served in the Johnson gover ...
resigned from his roles as Conservative Party Co-Chairman and Minister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...
, stating: "We cannot carry on with business as usual. Someone must take responsibility".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield by-election
2022 elections in the United Kingdom
2022 in England
2020s in West Yorkshire
By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in West Yorkshire constituencies
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
June 2022 events in the United Kingdom