On 19 June 2009, Barnsley Central MP Eric Illsley of the Labour Party was one of dozens of MPs identified by The Daily Telegraph as having made "phantom" claims for council tax on their parliamentary expenses.

[12] Jarvis, a Major in the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment who served in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan, is the first Labour candidate for this constituency or its predecessor to be born outside Yorkshire since 1938.

The son of late barrister George Carman, he had fought Barking at the 2010 election and, as a long-time campaigner against the BNP,[20] wrote an unofficial biography of the party's leader, Nick Griffin, which remains unpublished.

[23]) Independent candidate Tony Devoy stood in the same constituency at the general election with policies related to living wages and MP salary reductions.

[24][25] Fellow independent Michael Val Davies campaigned on reforming the tax system, telling the Barnsley Chronicle newspaper that he had 'no chance of winning' the byelection.

[26] Labour retained the seat with a significantly increased majority, while the Liberal Democrats suffered a sharp fall in votes compared to the election 10 months previously.

The result was notable for being the first time that UKIP came second in a Westminster election, and for the large drops in vote share by the coalition Government members, the Liberal Democrats' sixth position attracting particular attention.