Will Batley and Spen be the next brick in the red wall to fall?

Last week, I visited the constituency of Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire.

I wanted to find out why the main candidates were not talking about a teacher at Batley Grammar School who has been in hiding for three months. He went underground following protests and death threats after he showed a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Mohammed in his religious studies class.

An independent investigation found that the teacher had not intended to cause offence and suggested that he should return to the school. However, the conclusions of the investigation have not alleviated the teacher's concern for his safety.

It perplexes me that, in a supposedly liberal, open and free society, the major candidates do not want to champion the cause of free speech and tolerance as a centrepiece of their campaign.

Very quickly after I arrived in West Yorkshire, it became clear that there were many significant and challenging dynamics shaping the campaign and the backdrop to the incident involving the teacher.

In my report, I investigate how social tension, deprivation and a sense of alienation is feeding into the by-election campaign in Batley and Spen and dividing communities.