Women in Red lead Labour to clean sweep of Kirklees with four victories

Labour see off Tories with veteran Barry Sheerman trouncing his latest contender.
Kirklees has turned red after the borough’s only Tory MP was the victim of a surprise upset.
Colne Valley was the last result called and the most loudly cheered as former headteacher Thelma Walker unseated Jason McCartney by just 915 votes.
Labour veteran Barry Sheerman, 76, retained his Huddersfield seat for the tenth consecutive election trouncing Conservative Scott Benton by some 12,005 votes.
Many predicted Dewsbury would go blue once more but the reverse happened as Paula Sherriff doubled her majority to 3,321 votes.
Meanwhile in Batley and Spen, fears that UKIP voters would back the Conservative candidate also failed to materialise with former Coronation Street actress Tracy Brabin comfortably winning with a 8,961 margin.
Delighted MPs all said they felt the Labour manifesto pledges had given them a shot in the arm, with most voters unconcerned about the party’s stance on Brexit.
Thelma Walker, the new member of parliament for Colne Valley, said her campaigners had grown in confidence over the past few weeks.
“We’ve had a really strong campaign,” she said.
“It was showing more and more when we were knocking on people’s doors that the tide was turning.
“About three weeks ago we were having people who previously voted Conservative saying I really like your manifesto, I like the policies and I care about our NHS and A&E, and they were concerned about cuts to our local schools.
“Those issues were making people think and reflect about what they wanted for Colne Valley.
“I have immense respect for the work that Jason’s done over the last seven years but I’m very excited about what there is to do in the future and working with the community.”
Paula Sherriff, who at one point was heavily backed by the bookies to lose her seat, said: “I’m absolutely delighted, we’ve turned Kirklees red which is phenomenal.”
“It’s a great result, clearly a very strong message has been sent this evening.
“I feel it was an unnecessary election, whilst the country has been in turmoil with various events.”
Barry Sheerman told the crowd at the Kirklees count that he was concerned his long career could be over when Theresa May called the snap election on April 18.
He said: “When the Conservatives had a 20 point lead I thought we had a real struggle on our hands, and we did.
“But we stepped up to the plate.”
Tracy Brabin, who was elected in October following the murder of Jo Cox, said her team had been determined to win.
She said: “Sometimes I’d wake up at 4am and think ‘gosh can Batley and Spen turn into a Tory stronghold, no I can’t allow it’.
“So of course we were all very motivated to make sure we came back with a really healthy majority.”
She said that together with Dewsbury’s Paula Sherriff and Thelma Walker’s election as Colne Valley Labour MP they were the ‘women in red’.