Will Brexit supporters turn Batley blue on June 8?

It looks like it will be exceptionally close in Batley and Spen on general election day.

The safe Labour seat for the past 20 years is on the radar of Conservative party strategists due to its heavy support for Brexit.

In 2015 Jo Cox , enjoyed a comfortable 6,057 margin of victory over the Tories.

But just a few weeks after her tragic murder on June 16 last year, members of the public in the constituency are thought to have voted by 60% to 40% to leave the EU – the highest level of support in Kirklees.

The strong support for Brexit has led to predictions that many who voted for UKIP in 2015 will switch their allegiance to the Conservatives.

That’s because most Labour MPs were for staying in the EU and the party has not supported the so called ‘hard Brexit’ that the Conservatives appear to be aiming for.

With the Liberal Democrats campaigning for a second referendum on the subject, it appears that only the Tories would offer the exit from the EU that UKIP voters would approve of.

Much like neighbouring Dewsbury , large numbers cast their votes for UKIP in 2015 with candidate Aleks Lukic getting more than 9,000 votes – that’s 18% share of all votes.

Because of that, Tracy Brabin, elected in a by-election on October 20, is in danger of losing the seat to the Conservatives for the first time since 1983.

Bookies Paddypower have Labour at 8/11 on to hold the seat on June 8 with the Tory odds ‘evens’.

Electoral Calculus – a prediction website that uses a mix of opinion polls and statistical analysis – is predicting that Labour may just hold on with Labour on 46.7% and the Tories on 45.8%.

The last Conservative MP for Batley and Spen was Elizabeth Peacock, who held the seat for 14 years until 1997 where she was toppled by Labour’s Mike Wood.

If Mrs Brabin is ousted she will be one of the shortest serving MPs to lose their seat at a General Election.

Numerous MPs died before they could make their maiden speech in parliament but only about a dozen in the past 120 years have served fewer than Mrs Brabin’s 199 days – October 24, 2016 to May 3, the dissolution of parliament.