The Green Party has pulled off a dramatic by-election triumph in Gorton and Denton, delivering a damaging political blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and relegating Labour to third place.
After an intense campaign, Green candidate Hannah Spencer emerged victorious with 14,980 votes. Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin secured second place on 10,578, while Labour’s Angeliki Stogia finished behind on 9,364.
Polling expert Sir John Curtice said the outcome was “the worst possible result for the prime minister”, while Labour MP Karl Turner labelled the result “a catastrophe” for his party.
Green Party Celebrates First Ever Westminster By-Election Victory
The win represents a historic milestone for the Greens, marking their first success in a Westminster by-election and increasing their parliamentary presence to five MPs.
Spencer, who works as a plumber, said: “To my customers, I’m sorry, but I think I might have to cancel the work that you had booked in, because I’m heading to parliament. And when I get there, I will make space for everyone doing jobs like mine. We will finally get a seat at the table.”
She added: “We have shown that we don’t have to accept being turned against each other. We can demand better without hating each other. We can do that together.
“We ran a hopeful campaign, backed by thousands of volunteers and activists. We defeated the parties of billionaire donors. We have shown that we don’t have to accept being turned against each other at all.”
Labour Faces Mounting Questions After Heavy Defeat
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former government minister Andrew Gwynne on health grounds. He had comfortably won the newly created constituency for Labour at the 2024 general election with a majority of more than 13,400.
Labour’s disappointing performance is expected to increase pressure on Starmer, who visited the constituency earlier this week and has faced a challenging period since entering Downing Street less than 18 months ago.
The prime minister’s decision to block Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing as Labour’s candidate is also likely to draw scrutiny.
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell appeared to concede the scale of the challenge shortly before the declaration at around 4.30am.
She told Sky News: “What’s clear is that the Greens turned out their vote higher than they might otherwise expect to have done.
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“I want to win elections, that’s what I’m in politics to do, and I wanted Angeliki Stogia to be my colleague in parliament, I think she would have been a fantastic MP.
“But what I think is really clear is that there is a big majority in this constituency that hasn’t voted for Reform, and on the day the Greens have managed to win that argument they were best placed to do that.”
Labour chair Anna Turley said: “This result is clearly disappointing. By-elections are normally difficult for the party of government, and this election was no different.”
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