Batley and Spen by-election: Labour leader Keir Starmer visits
Published
image captionThe Labour leader toured the rugby club ground with Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater
The upcoming by-election in West Yorkshire is not a referendum on the leadership of the Labour Party, its candidate has said.
Kim Leadbeater, who is standing for the Batley and Spen seat, was joined by Sir Keir Starmer as she campaigned earlier.
She is defending Labour's 3,525 majority in the constituency, after its loss in May's Hartlepool by-election.
Ms Leadbeater insisted the election on 1 July was about the people of Batley and Spen.
She said she "absolutely" didn't see the vote as a measure of Sir Keir's role as Labour leader, and vowed to focus on "the people of Batley and Spen".