{"id":448236,"date":"2026-02-27T09:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448236\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T09:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:20:08","slug":"green-party-wins-gorton-and-denton-byelection-pushing-labour-to-third-place-in-blow-to-keir-starmer-byelections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/448236\/","title":{"rendered":"Green party wins Gorton and Denton byelection, pushing Labour to third place in blow to Keir Starmer | Byelections"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Green party has pulled off a landmark victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection in a significant blow to Keir Starmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green party<\/a> councillor, was elected as the party\u2019s first MP in northern England after overturning Labour\u2019s 13,000-vote majority.<\/p>\n

Labour came third in the tightly contested race, 5,616 votes behind the Greens on 14,980 votes, while Reform UK<\/a> finished second with 10,578 votes. The result represents a 25.3% drop in Labour\u2019s vote compared to 2024.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats lost their deposits as they won fewer than 5% of the votes, with both under 2%.<\/p>\n

The Greens\u2019 victory in a Labour<\/a> stronghold, its first ever in a Westminster byelection, establishes the party as a serious political force and a credible anti-Reform alternative.<\/p>\n

It will deepen concerns among Labour MPs that Starmer\u2019s party is haemorrhaging voters on the left in an effort to thwart the rise of Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform.<\/p>\n

Result<\/a><\/p>\n

The result will also prompt further scrutiny of the prime minister\u2019s decision to block Andy Burnham from standing as the Labour candidate in a city where he enjoys significant public support.<\/p>\n

It is the first time in nearly 100 years that the Gorton area of Manchester has not been represented by a Labour MP.<\/p>\n

In an emotional victory speech, Spencer \u2013 who becomes the fifth Green party MP \u2013 said people were being \u201cbled dry\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cInstead of working for a nice life, we\u2019re working to line the pockets of billionaires. We\u2019re being bled dry. And I don\u2019t think it\u2019s extreme or radical to think that working hard should get you a nice life\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spencer emphasised community solidarity and said she would call out politicians \u201cwho constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all the problems in society. My Muslim friends and neighbours are just like me \u2013 human.\u201d<\/p>\n

The byelection was triggered by the resignation<\/a> of Andrew Gwynne on health grounds in January. The former MP was under investigation by parliament for offensive messages he sent in a WhatsApp group of local Labour figures.<\/p>\n

On polling day Labour insiders had seemed more confident as polling showed they were virtually neck-and-neck with the Greens. They hoped voters might stick with Labour rather than back an insurgent party and risk a Reform win.<\/p>\n

However, the Greens\u2019 energetic campaign \u2013 Spencer found near-instant local fame as \u201cHannah the plumber\u201d while thousands of volunteers travelled from across the UK to support her \u2013 was enough to secure victory.<\/p>\n

Hannah Spencer speaks following her victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Labour sources said the party had not been forgiven by many of its Muslim voters for its stance on Gaza \u2013 an issue capitalised on by the Greens in the Manchester side of the constituency.<\/p>\n

\u201cGaza has not been forgotten or forgiven,\u201d said a Labour councillor in the constituency. \u201cLots of us are now worried for our seats\u201d.<\/p>\n

Within hours of polls closing at 10pm, Labour\u2019s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, had confirmed defeat to journalists at the count in Manchester Central convention complex.<\/p>\n

Powell, who was the only member of Labour\u2019s ruling body to back Burnham\u2019s bid for the seat in a vote last month, said Starmer was \u201cresolute in his job\u201d when asked about the prime minister\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI know that Keir is the right person for that job and he does that job really well. This is about politics as well \u2013 we\u2019ve got to get our politics clearer so people know that we are on their side, we are standing up for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin looks on as Hannah Spencer speaks. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Turnout in the closely watched seat was 47.6%, fractionally lower than in the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n

Labour had sought to pitch the byelection as a choice between \u201cunity and hope\u201d or the \u201ctoxic division\u201d of Reform, whose candidate, Matt Goodwin, was a surprise choice<\/a> in a seat where about 28% of the population is Muslim.<\/p>\n

Goodwin, an academic turned GB News presenter, has called for a policy to tackle \u201cthe Islamisation of British society\u201d and claimed that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British.<\/p>\n

Speaking to journalists as he arrived at the count, Goodwin blamed his loss on \u201ca coalition of Islamists and woke progressives\u201d he said had \u201ccome together to dominate the constituency\u201d.<\/p>\n

He accused the Green party of \u201cplaying sectarian politics,\u201d in part by writing to constituents in Urdu: \u201cThis kind of campaign, in different languages appealing to specific groups based on their characteristics, is unacceptable in modern Britain\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he was claiming the result was illegitimate, he did not respond as he was whisked away.<\/p>\n

Starmer\u2019s party dispatched a cast of cabinet ministers to Gorton and Denton in an attempt to shore up Labour support, however the prime minister was notably absent in the seat until this week.<\/p>\n

The Labour leader had faced weeks of damaging headlines over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite knowing the former minister had maintained a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after the child sex offender\u2019s financier\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

Starmer also faced intense criticism from Labour MPs over the decision by his allies to prevent Burnham from standing<\/a> as the candidate in Gorton and Denton in what was seen as an attempt to head off a leadership challenge.<\/p>\n

The Mainstream Labour group, which is backed by Burnham, said it was a \u201ccatastrophic error\u201d to block the Greater Manchester<\/a> mayor from standing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis loss was avoidable,\u201d the group said. \u201cAngeliki, members and our party staff worked tirelessly, but our leader and sections of the NEC blocked the one candidate who could have won it for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The closely fought contest also became mired in accusations of dodgy polls and dirty tricks.<\/p>\n

Labour and the Greens traded barbs repeatedly in a sign that the byelection would be won or lost as a result of the battle on the left, with Reform potentially standing to benefit from a split vote.<\/p>\n

Reform, meanwhile, was hauled before the high court on Wednesday over letters purporting to be from a \u201cconcerned neighbour\u201d that failed to carry the party\u2019s political imprint<\/a> as required by electoral law. Farage\u2019s party blamed an error at its printing supplier, which accepted responsibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Green party has pulled off a landmark victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection in a significant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-448236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}