{"id":320155,"date":"2026-02-27T13:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/320155\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:45:13","slug":"green-party-wins-uk-by-election-in-blow-to-starmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/320155\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Party wins UK by-election in blow to Starmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK’s Green Party has won its first ever parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton, dealing a bitter blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s defeat, trailing in third behind Zack Polanski\u2019s Greens and Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK in the previously rock-solid Greater Manchester constituency, will pile pressure on the prime minister.<\/p>\n

Hannah Spencer, a councillor and plumber, emerged victorious for the Greens, with 14,980 votes and a majority of 4,402 votes.<\/p>\n

Reform UK\u2019s candidate Matt Goodwin got 10,578 votes, with Labour\u2019s Angeliki Stogia trailing on 9,364, down from 18,555 in the 2024 general election, when the turnout was similarly high.<\/p>\n

Conservative candidate Charlotte Cadden received just 706 votes, with the Liberal Democrats getting 653.<\/p>\n

In an emotional victory speech, Ms Spencer said people were being “bled dry” and were “sick of our hard work making other people rich”.<\/p>\n

Taking aim at her election rivals, she said: “I won\u2019t accept this victory tonight without calling out politicians and divisive figures who constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all the problems in society.”<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old, who becomes the Green Party\u2019s fifth MP, also apologised to customers who had made appointments for plumbing jobs, joking: “I think I might have to cancel the work that you had booked in, because I\u2019m heading to Parliament.”<\/p>\n

Celebrating the swing of 27.5% from Labour to Greens, Mr Polanski said: “If we see a swing like this at the next general election, there will be a tidal wave of new Green MPs.”<\/p>\n

\"Green
\nThe Green Party’s Hannah Spencer celebrates with party leader Zack Polanski<\/p>\n

Reform\u2019s Mr Goodwin said: “I think the progressives were told how to vote, and I think what you saw was a coalition of Islamists and woke progressives that came together to dominate a constituency. And many people in this country will look at Gorton and Denton and be appalled by what they see.”<\/p>\n

He also said Reform had “embarrassed Labour in one of their strongest seats”.<\/p>\n

Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley lamented the “clearly disappointing” result, saying: “By-elections are normally difficult for the party of government, and this election was no different.”<\/p>\n

She added that “the politics of anger and easy answers offered by the Greens and Reform” would not tackle the cost-of-living crisis, create opportunities for young people or invest in public services.<\/p>\n

The Greens\u2019 victory will undermine Labour\u2019s claim to be the only option for anti-Reform voters in the May local elections, deepening the electoral challenge for the governing party.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s deputy leader Lucy Powell earlier admitted the Greens had won the “argument that they were best placed” to keep Reform out of Gorton and Denton.<\/p>\n

She insisted “there is no leadership contest” and that Mr Starmer “is resolute in his job as leader of the Labour Party, as our prime minister”.<\/p>\n

But the outcome will likely renew speculation about Mr Starmer\u2019s position, which has come under pressure from the Peter Mandelson scandal, a slew of departures from No 10 and Labour\u2019s plummeting popularity.<\/p>\n

Mr Starmer\u2019s decision to block potential leadership rival Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor, from running will also come under the spotlight.<\/p>\n

The contest was triggered by former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne standing down for health reasons.<\/p>\n

\"Reform
\nReform UK candidate Matt Goodwin came in second place, ahead of the Labour candidate<\/p>\n

Reform leader Mr Farage claimed “cheating” had led to his candidate\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n

Concerns have been raised about people forcing family members to vote in a certain way in the contest.<\/p>\n

Election observer group Democracy Volunteers warned it had witnessed “concerningly high levels” of family voting – an illegal practice where two voters use one polling booth and potentially direct each other on voting.<\/p>\n

Mr Farage posted on X: “This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating. Matt Goodwin was a great candidate for us.<\/p>\n

“Roll on the elections on May 7th. It will be goodbye Starmer and goodbye to the Tory party.”<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Conservative Party, which came a distant fourth, said: “Keir Starmer has killed the Labour Party.<\/p>\n

“In losing one of Labour\u2019s safest seats, in a constituency that has returned Labour MPs for almost a century, Starmer has shown he no longer commands the support of Labour voters and is now a lame duck leader.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK’s Green Party has won its first ever parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton, dealing a bitter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-320155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}