UKIP on warpath as Labour claim Oldham by-election

Labour leader Mr Corbyn seized on the success to put down critics who argue his left-wing leadership will lead to certain defeat in 2020. “It means effectively – in some of these seats where people don’t speak English, but they’re signed up to postal votes – effectively the electoral process is now dead”.

Turnout was much higher than expected – 40.26 per cent – helped in part by an effective postal vote system. Serious concerns, should they exist, should be passed to the police, he said.

UKIP was second with 21% of the vote. He claimed Labour had an advantage in Oldham because of the party’s control of council housing and close links with local mosques.

“Some boxes where 99% of the votes were for Labour and this does not seem to be consistent with modern liberal democracy”.

He added: “We’ve had problems in Tower Halmets with this, we’ve had problems in Birmginham”.

He did, though, admit that Labour would still have won a majority even without postal votes.

And then there is the Oldham seat itself, a northern Labour bastion that looks like a microcosm of these wider trends – a strong working-class demographic, a history of public disorder around integration, and a growing number of disillusioned left behind voters who are already turning away from the main parties and toward Ukip.

‘That would make it fair again.

“We also need to remember what is now at stake under this Tory government”.

“The other candidates weren’t from Oldham, and I think in by-elections these local factors weigh rather more heavily than they would in a general election”.

Voting in Oldham took place a day after 66 Labour lawmakers, including some in his senior team, rebelled against Corbyn to back the government on extending British air strikes to Syria. ‘The hard work starts now’.

In a speech on the steps of Chadderton Town Hall, on Friday, Mr Corbyn said: “This campaign shows just how strong our party is”.

Maybe it’s because of this kind of rhetoric that the Labour Party finds itself in opposition, gifting three million votes to UKIP at the last election.

Corbyn said the win was “a clear demonstration that Labour is the party working people trust”.

It will be a similar story in Oldham, they argue, where Ukip could go one step further by winning the entire contest.

His comments follow appeals from Labour MPs for the party high command to disown the group, formed by supporters of Jeremy Corbyn following his election as leader in September.

Pressed on whether MPs should potentially face deselection for failing to tow the party line, Mr Wrack, a long-time ally of Mr Corbyn whose union recently re-affiliated to Labour, replied: “It depends upon the circumstances and it depends upon the issue”.

“The election of Jeremy Corbyn reflected a mood among a whole layer of people for change in politics”.