Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater took the seat with 3,296 votes, a majority of 323 over Tory candidate Ryan Stephenson after a bitter contest. Mr Galloway came third. But in a furious outburst in a video posted to his Twitter page, Mr Galloway said: "The results of this election cannot stand and we will take whatever legal measures are necessary to have this result set aside."

       He accused the Labour-controlled Kirklees Council of removing thousands of posters from his Workers Party of Britain from lamp posts throughout Batley and Spen.

       Mr Galloway also claimed "Labour issued a leaflet that claimed our campaign was running out of steam" on the same day the posters were allegedly removed.

       The Workers Party of Britain leader added: "I did help write the law that lays out very clearly the requirement for posters on lamp posts.

       "This law was broken by Kirklees Council and they have preferred to implement what they said is their policy, which was applied to only our posters.

       "Taking down thousands of our election posters while also describing us as running out of steam, is a significant part of the legal action that we will begin."

       "On multiple grounds, we will apply to the courts for this election result to be set aside."

       Express.co.uk has contacted the Labour Party for comment.

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