Is Labour taking its eye off the Oldham West and Royton by-election? Next week, the party will be focused on whether it will back bombing Syria, but the by-election following the death of Michael Meacher is also being held on Thursday. Today’s papers are full of headlines proclaiming Labour is at war with itself, so you can understand this statement from Corbyn’s office:
‘Regrettably Jeremy Corbyn is not now visiting Oldham because matters to do with Syria mean he must return to London’
As Isabel has been reporting over the past few weeks, jitters are growing about whether Labour is doing enough to stem the flow of working class voters to Ukip. It is tricky to judge how the race is going for both parties, given that there is no constituency-level polling. The bookies still has Labour as the favourite to win — Ukip is on 3/1 — but this interesting account has appeared on reddit from a campaigner in Oldham West offers another perspective.
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