Conservatives complain about ‘intimidation’ and ‘bullying’ in Rochdale

Party chairman Richard Holden suggests there might be a need for ‘police presence at polling stations’ to protect voters

The chair of the Conservative Party has written to the police raising concerns about “voter intimidation” and “bullying” in Thursday’s Rochdale by-election.
Richard Holden suggested there might be a need for “police presence at polling stations” to protect voters from “indirect or direct” pressure when casting their ballots
The contest in the Greater Manchester seat, caused by the death of Sir Tony Lloyd, the Labour MP, has proved acrimonious.
Labour belatedly withdrew support from its candidate, Azhar Ali, after it emerged that he had claimed Israel had “allowed” the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.
George Galloway, the controversial Left-wing politician, is mounting a challenge for the seat as a candidate for his Workers Party of Britain.
On Saturday, Mr Holden sent a letter to Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, and Steve Rumbelow, the chief executive of Rochdale Borough Council, requesting reassurances about the contest.
“I am writing to you to raise my concerns regarding voter intimidation ahead of the Rochdaleby-election. This follows reports of such intimidation and bullying behaviour during the campaign,” he wrote.
Mr Holden said the by-election had been “one of the most divisive campaigns I have witnessed in recent times”, claiming the “vile” comments made by Mr Ali and his suspension had “made the campaign particularly toxic”.
“In this context, there have been reports, and we have all seen evidence of intimidation and threatening behaviour being used,” he said.
The Tory chairman referred to a video that had appeared on social media of an “open fracas” at a hustings in which Simon Danczuk, the candidate for Reform UK, claimed he had been turned away by locals.
Mr Holden said there were “also concerns about the conduct of the Workers Party candidate [Mr Galloway] after accusations of intimidatory tactics and aggression fuelled rhetoric against activists and other candidates during the Batley and Spen by-election.”
In the 2021 by-election, Kim Leadbetter, Labour’s candidate, claimed Mr Galloway stood by while she was heckled by a group of men while campaigning – something Mr Galloway said at the time was a “lie”.
In his letter, Mr Holden said that in previous elections, areas had been “identified by the Electoral Commission as being ‘high risk’ for vote-rigging and bullying to make sure that the democratic right to vote is conducted free from intimidation, whilst there are also precedents for police presence at polling stations.”
He asked whether police had been asked by the acting returning officer for the by-election to “protect voters against threats of indirect or direct action” and what plans were in place “to ensure any allegations of intimidation or threats of violence are dealt with in a way which does not impact voting?”.
Asked about Mr Holden’s comments, a spokesman for Mr Galloway said: “The only police intervention thus far during this campaign has been a member of the public destroying one of our banners. 
“There have been no complaints with any substance made to the police, made to the local authority, to our knowledge about the conduct of any of the candidates in this campaign.
“If Mr Holden has genuine concerns, I would urge him to report them to the respective candidates’ campaign teams, but more importantly if they are serious to report them to the police.
“This is just baseless politicking less than a week before the election because the Conservatives know that George Galloway is on course here for a very large victory.”
The spokesman also said Mr Holden’s claims about Batley and Spen were “completely baseless”.
Asked about the recent incident at the hustings, he added: “We had nothing to do with the organisation of any hustings in Rochdale. We received an invitation to a hustings by a local community group, and we turned up”.
The spokesman said the individuals filmed clashing with Mr Danczuk “had nothing to do with our campaign”.