Conservatives complain about ‘intimidation’ and ‘bullying’ in Rochdale

Left-wing politician George Galloway is mounting a challenge to take Rochdale as a candidate for his Workers Party of Britain – ASADOUR GUZELIAN

The chair of the Conservative Party has written to the police raising concerns about “voter intimidation” and “bullying” in this week’s Rochdale by-election.

Richard Holden suggested there might be a need for a “police presence at polling stations” to protect voters from “indirect or direct” pressure when casting their ballots.

On Thursday, a by-election will take place in the Greater Manchester seat vacated by the death in January of the Labour MP, Sir Tony Lloyd.

The contest has proved acrimonious, with Labour belatedly withdrawing support from its candidate, Azhar Ali, after it emerged that he had claimed Israel had “allowed” the October 7 attack by Hamas.

The controversial Left-wing politician George Galloway is mounting a challenge to take the seat as a candidate for his Workers Party of Britain.

On Saturday, Mr Holden sent a letter to the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, Stephen Watson, and the chief executive of Rochdale Borough Council, Steve Rumbelow, requesting reassurances about the contest.

“I am writing to you to raise my concerns regarding voter intimidation ahead of the Rochdale

by-election, this follows reports of such intimidation and bullying behaviour during the campaign,” he said.

Mr Holden said the by-election had been “one of the most divisive campaigns I have witnessed in recent times”, claiming the “vile” comments made by Mr Ali and his eventual suspension had “made the campaign particularly toxic”.

“In this context, there have been reports and we have all seen evidence of intimidation and threatening behaviour being used,” he said.

Open fracas

The Tory chair referred to a video which had appeared on social media of an “open fracas” at a hustings in which the candidate for Reform UK, Simon Danczuk, claimed he had been turned away by locals.

Mr Holden said there were “also concerns about the conduct of the Workers Party candidate [Mr Galloway] after accusations of intimidatory tactics and aggression fuelled rhetoric against activists and other candidates during the Batley and Spen by-election.”

In the 2021 by-election, Labour’s candidate, Kim Leadbetter, claimed that Mr Galloway stood by while she was heckled by a group of men while campaigning – something Mr Galloway said at the time was a “lie”.

In his letter, Mr Holden said that in previous elections, areas had been “identified by the Electoral Commission as being ‘high risk’ for vote-rigging and bullying to make sure that the democratic right to vote is conducted free from intimidation, whilst there are also precedents for police presence at polling stations.”

He asked whether the police had been asked by the acting returning officer for the by-election to “protect voters against threats of indirect or direct action” and what plans were in place “to ensure any allegations of intimidation or threats of violence are dealt with in a way which does not impact voting?”

Asked about Mr Holden’s comments, a spokesman for Mr Galloway said: “The only police intervention thus far during this campaign has been a member of the public destroying one of our banners.

“There have been no complaints with any substance made to the police, made to the local authority, to our knowledge about the conduct of any of the candidates in this campaign.

“If Mr Holden has genuine concerns I would urge him to report them to the respective candidates’ campaign teams, but more importantly if they are serious to report them to the police.”

He went on: “This is just baseless politicking less than a week before the election because the Conservatives know that George Galloway is on course here for a very large victory.”

The spokesman also said that Mr Holden’s claims about Batley and Spen were “completely baseless”.

Asked about the recent incident at the hustings, he said: “We had nothing to do with the organisation of any hustings in Rochdale.

“We received an invitation to a hustings by a local community group and we turned up”.

The spokesman said that the individuals filmed clashing with Mr Danczuk “had nothing to do with our campaign”.

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