George Galloway to set up base for local elections in 2022

George Galloway speaking to the media after the Batley and Spen by-election count last week

Defeated Batley and Spen by-election candidate George Galloway is understood to be setting up a base in the area in order to fight next year’s local elections.

Mr Galloway and the Workers Party came third at the polls earlier this month behind Labour’s Kim Leadbeater and the Conservatives’ Ryan Stephenson.

Campaign manager for Mr Galloway, James Giles, said support was growing and that the party was intending to set up groups across the country “from Penzance to the Shetland Islands”.

The Workers Party is also embroiled in a legal tussle over the by-election and is seeking to have the result set aside.

Mr Giles said it was hoping to have the case heard in the High Court.

It also launched what it described as an “urgent legal challenge” against Kirklees Council which removed election posters that breached guidelines as the official “imprint” on them was too small.

Locals who lived through what has been described as a bitter and divisive by-election period say Mr Galloway’s support is actually drifting away.

One said: “It was like a frenzy during the by-election but people are now realising that they’ve been taken for a ride.

“It’s only after Galloway lost that people came to their senses.

“A lot are now questioning the whole thing. They’re leaving in droves.

“Support is dwindling. People feel they made a mistake.”