They didn’t take seats but they certainly took votes off Labour.
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In the early hours of Friday, in wake of Labour’s win in the Oldham and Royton by-election, Nigel Farage tweeted that he had “evidence from an impeccable source” that the postal voting process was “bent”.
The UKIP leader suggested “big ethnic changes in the way people are voting” could have “perverted” the result of the election.
Mr Nuttall said: “We should go back to the old system where you had to give a good reason why you can’t get off your backside and go down to a polling booth”.
“I see the Tories taking money from towns like Oldham and I am sick to death of it. I recognise that for Oldham to do well we need a Labour 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”.
“And I hope they can reflect on the result in Oldham last night and the tough week Labour have had and realise we’ve all got to swing together”. ‘The hard work starts now’.
Mr McMahon dismissed Mr Farage’s accusations of irregularity, telling the BBC: “Ukip just need to understand that people have the right to vote for the party that best represents their interests”.
Some are well to do, a bit like the Tories who failed to rally around Farage in Kent, and might conclude that they have a better chance by keeping Corbyn as the Labour leader rather than defect to an insurgent party that they dislike. McMahon’s campaign focused on local issues such as bringing jobs to the district.
In a two-minute speech outside Chadderton town hall, Corbyn said: “This campaign shows just how strong our party is not just here in Oldham but all over the country”.
Jim McMahon for Labour claimed a massive 62% of the vote share, which was higher than that at the General Election. “I have seen those TV images of what went on in (Walthamstow MP) Stella Creasy’s constituency and I can only say if there were Labour Party members on that demonstration, intimidating staff members of an MP like that, then I think they should be removed from the party”.
“It shows the way we have driven the Tories back on tax credits, police cuts, on their whole austerity agenda”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said was “delighted” at his party’s win – and claimed Ukip “benefited from a protest vote”.
“He’s toxic, anti-British and anti-patriotic”, UKIP candidate John Bickley told the Manchester Evening News on Monday, referring to Corbyn’s cancellation of a visit to the district that Meacher had held for Labour since 1970.
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Many have also drawn comparisons with the nearby seat of Heywood and Middleton, another historic Labour stronghold where in late 2014 Ukip shocked onlookers by coming within 620 votes of defeating the centre-left.
