Batley and Spen MP ignores safe seat advice as constituency is split

Kim Leadbeater said she would represent the area where she was "born and bred"

A West Yorkshire MP has said she will ignore advice to fight for the safest of two parliamentary seats when her constituency is split up.

Kim Leadbeater, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, said she was "deeply disappointed" by a decision to divide her constituency at the next election.

But she said she would stand for the new Spen Valley seat rather than the neighbouring Dewsbury and Batley seat.

Ms Leadbeater said her decision was down to being "born and bred" there.

In 2021, Ms Leadbeater won the Batley and Spen seat previously held by her sister Jo Cox, who was murdered there in 2016.

But following a review by the Boundary Commission for England, it was announced that the constituency would be split into a new seats - Dewsbury and Batley, and Spen Valley - at the next general election.

Kim Leadbeater won the seat previously held by her sister, Jo Cox, who was murdered in the constituency in 2016

Ms Leadbeater said she had "thought long and hard about which of the new seats to put myself forward for" and it had been "one of the most difficult decisions of my life".

"Many of my political colleagues have said the choice is obvious: that I should go for whatever is the 'safest' seat," she said.

"But that's not me. This is not just a political decision - it's very personal.

"At the end of the day, I am Spen Valley born and bred and for me it has always been important to represent the place I am from and the people I live among and have done all my life."

She said she would continue to represent the Batley and Spen constituency "to the very best of my ability until the election, whenever it comes".

Ms Leadbeater was elected to Parliament in a by-election which took place after Tracy Brabin, who held the Batley and Spen seat for Labour, was elected as the first mayor of West Yorkshire.

She defeated her Conservative rival by just 323 votes.

Kim Leadbeater was congratulated by Labour MPs and party leader Sir Keir Starmer when she won the 2021 by-election