Sir Keir Starmer appears to be facing an uphill battle to ensure the Labour Party maintains control on its Batley and Spen stronghold on Thursday's by-election. The West Yorkshire constituency was among the seats Tony Blair snatched from the Conservatives in his 1997 win but Labour's prospects of keeping hold of the seat have grown smaller in recent days. Voters in the area expressed their dissatisfaction with the party branding the area's situation as a "shambles" in need of immediate correcting.

       Speaking to GB News, one voter said: "I always voted Labour but I realistically think...if you look at the roads up and down Batley, they're atrocious.

       "We have no local transport, look at our bus station."

       Another voter said: "It's an absolute shambles.

       "All the town is full of is take away places, and that's it. It's dead, it's just dead and something must be done to change it."

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       One long-time Labour voter insisted it was now time for change in the area: "I've been a voter of Labour in the past.

       "I've seen the same kind of issues that have not been resolved time after time.

       "Obviously, West Yorkshire doesn't get the importance that it needs so it's generally time for reform and time for change."

       And one simply noted: "As long as we get Labour out."

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       Despite the potential loss he faces at the polls, Sir Keir had a spokesman clarify he is not planning to resign should the seat be lost.

       The spokesman insisted on Wednesday that he is on a "four-year path" to lead the party back into power and would not be standing down if he oversaw another electoral defeat.

       The West Yorkshire constituency has voted Labour since 1997, but there are real concerns within the party that it could be seized by Boris Johnson's Conservatives on Thursday.

       New polling has suggested that as many as four in 10 Labour members would want Sir Keir to stand down and make way for new leadership in the wake of a loss there.

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       Sir Keir's spokesman played down the prospect of a victory by saying it "has always been a marginal seat" and that winning "was always going to be challenging".

       "Keir is not going to resign," he responded when asked by journalists at a Westminster briefing.

       He added: "Keir has been absolutely clear that this is a four-year path to get back into power and he is determined to lead the party into the next general election and to take us back into Government."