Businessman Martin Ibberson has won a controversial Mirfield Town Council by-election branded a “waste of money.”

Father-of-three Mr Ibberson, 52, won the Battyeford seat for the Tories beating Labour’s Michael Hutchinson by just 55 votes.

The by-election was called after Mr Hutchinson, twice Mayor of Mirfield, failed to take up the seat he won in the elections in May.

Mr Hutchinson went to Canada to visit a sick relative and failed to attend a meeting to make a declaration to confirm his place on the council.

A political row erupted with Tories and Labour at loggerheads over who was to blame.

Michael Hutchinson
Michael Hutchinson

Labour supporters called a by-election, which became a head-to-head between Mr Hutchinson and Mr Ibberson.

The election took place on Thursday and the votes were counted at Huddersfield Town Hall on Friday morning.

Mr Ibberson won by 562-507 with a turnout of just 20.68%. A total of 5,189 people could have voted.

It is believed the election could have cost more than £10,000 to stage.

Mr Ibberson, who runs several businesses and is one of the organisers of the annual Mirfield Show, said he had never been politically-motivated but decided to stand because he was outraged at a leaflet put out by Mr Hutchinson.

“It made my blood boil that Mr Hutchinson seemed to be saying other people were to blame for causing this unnecessary expense,” he said.

“He pretended it was someone else’s fault and that was not fair. If he had admitted he had messed up and asked the town council to co-opt him all this could have been avoided.”

Mr Ibberson, involved in many community activities, said he didn’t need the title of ‘councillor’ to work for Mirfield and added: “I will carry on doing what I do.”

Newly-elected Mirfield town councillor Martin Ibberson (right) is welcomed to Mirfield Town Council by Clr Martyn Bolt
Newly-elected Mirfield town councillor Martin Ibberson (right) is welcomed to Mirfield Town Council by Clr Martyn Bolt

Mirfield town councillor Martyn Bolt branded the election a “waste of money” and said: “You have to respect democracy but if Mr Hutchinson had not been so belligerent and explained the circumstances he could have been co-opted.

“Instead he chose to make a political and financial point.”

Mr Hutchinson denied he had made a mistake and claimed the situation had been engineered by the Tories.

“I don’t know why the Tories are so afraid of me but they have got what they wanted,” he said.

“The electorate of Battyeford had the opportunity to correct an injustice. Some tried but, unfortunately, not enough.”

Mr Hutchinson agreed the election was “totally unnecessary” and said the Tories could have chosen not to field a candidate against him.

He added: “I am grateful to those who voted for me but, regardless of the result, I wish the turnout could have been larger. A 20% turnout doesn’t say much for Mirfield Town Council.”