The Barnsley East by-election was held on 12 December 1996, following the death of the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 Terry Patchett

Terry Patchett

Terry Patchett was a politician in the United Kingdom.Born in Staincross, Barnsley, Patchett served as Member of Parliament for Barnsley East until his death, and was a member of the Labour Party. In Parliament he worked for the mining communities of Yorkshire. He died in office in Sheffield aged...

 for Barnsley East

Barnsley East (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnsley East is a Parliamentary constituency in South Yorkshire which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was created as Barnsley East in 1983 and abolished to create Barnsley East and Mexborough in 1997...

, in South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on 11 October.

Jeff Ennis held the seat for Labour on an increased majority of 68%, despite a low voter turnout. Despite a slight reduction in the vote for the Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

, they overtook the Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 for second place. The Socialist Labour Party

Socialist Labour Party (UK)

The Socialist Labour Party is a far left socialist political party in the United Kingdom. The party is led by former trade union leader Arthur Scargill, who established it in 1996 as a breakaway from the Labour Party...

, on their leader Arthur Scargill

Arthur Scargill

Arthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...

's home territory, was able to save its deposit.

With the election of a new Labour MP, the Conservatives lost their Parliamentary majority.