BREAKING: George Galloway wins Rochdale by-election by nearly 6000 votes

Friday, 1 March 2024 03:20

By David Murphy

George Galloway on stage. Credit: David Murphy

After a long night and a circus of an election campaign in Rochdale, George Galloway wins the Rochdale by-election.

George Galloway, a former Labour MP and contestant on Celebrity Big Brother, won the by-election with 12,335 votes, almost 6,000 more than any other candidate.

Although the victory speech was interrupted this morning as Reverend Mark Coleman, who also ran in the by-election and who is known in Rochdale for going to prison, and who was recently in court for his Just Stop Oil activities, threw orange confetti over Galloway on stage before a Just Stop Oil heckler shouted out disrupting his speech, calling him a 'climate change denier'.

During his speech, Galloway said he would put Rochdale Labour Councillors "on notice" and wanted to "clean up the town hall" with the upcoming elections in May as people have lost confidence in Labour.

David Tully, an Independent and Rochdale Man of the Year winner, came second after receiving more than 6000 votes.

Early in the evening, within hours of the polls closing, Galloway supporters were planning the victory rally at his headquarters, the former Suzuki showroom in Rochdale.

The full results are as follows:

Galloway (Workers Pty) 12,335
Tully (Ind) 6,638
Ellison (Cons) 3,731
Ali (Lab) 2,402
Donaldson (LibDem) 2,164
Danczuk (Reform) 1,968
W.Howarth (Ind) 523
Coleman 455 Otten (Grn) 436
M.Howarth (Ind) 246
Subortna (Monst Raving) 209

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