New Wakefield MP Simon Lightwood welcomed to Parliament

Mr Lightwood was welcomed to Parliament by colleagues and Sir Keir Starmer on Monday afternoon following his “significant” victory in the West Yorkshire by-election last week.

The party leader said the majority of almost 5,000 showed the party are “back ready to go into Government.”

After a long round of applause and cheers from the gathered MPs in the Houses of Parliament, Sir Keir said: “We didn’t just get this over the line, we won a fantastic significant victory for Wakefield and for the whole country.”

He described the moment as a “really important milestone on our journey back into Government” and one that showed a “confident, united Labour party campaigning positively in Wakefield and showing that we’ve made huge strides in the last two years.”

After the arrival pictures were taken, Mr Lightwood was accompanied by colleagues Louise Haigh (Sheffield Heeley) and Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) as he arrived in the House of Commons.

MPs are required to make an oath or solemn affirmation of allegiance to the Crown in order to take their seats in Parliament.

After Mr Lightwood took part in the ceremony, Liberal Democrat Richard Foord, the new MP for Tiverton and Honiton, was joined by the party’s leader Sir Ed Davey and chief whip Wendy Chamberlain as he did the same.