The Green Party has snatched the formerly safe seat of Gorton and Denton away from Labour in a humiliating defeat for Sir Keir Starmer, which will fuel further questions over his leadership of the party.
The result, which saw Labour’s Angeliki Stogia come in third, is a major blow to the prime minister’s struggling authority, amid devastating approval ratings and mounting concern over the direction of government.
Top pollster Professor Sir John Curtice described the result as “seismic” and “means the future of British politics is now even more uncertain than it was already”.
Hannah Spencer – a councillor and plumber – received 14,980 votes, while Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin came second with 10,578. Meanwhile, Labour slumped to third place with 9,364 votes, down from 18,555 in the 2024 general election, when the turnout was similarly high in the formerly safe seat.
Conservative candidate Charlotte Cadden received just 706 votes, with the Liberal Democrats getting 653.
The victory is the Greens’ first ever win in a parliamentary by-election and comes despite Labour having won Gorton and Denton with more than half the vote just two years ago.
It represents the sixth largest Labour majority to be overturned at a by-election since the Second World War.
The final result came after the party’s deputy leader Lucy Powell appeared to admit defeat in the early hours of the morning, saying Mr Polanski had won the “argument that they were best placed” to keep Reform out in the area.
Labour has previously sought to pitch itself as the only option for anti-Reform voters, but the loss will now undermine that claim in future elections, instead boosting the Greens’ credibility and chipping away at Labour’s ailing support base.
Sir Keir’s decision to block potential leadership rival Andy Burnham from running in the contest – which was triggered by former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne standing down – will also likely face renewed scrutiny.
In an emotional victory speech, Ms Spencer said people were being “bled dry” and were “sick of our hard work making other people rich”.
The 34-year-old, who becomes the Green Party’s fifth MP, praised her party’s “hopeful campaign” and said “we have shown that we don’t have to accept being turned against each other”.
Arguing that the Greens had “defeated the parties of billionaire donors”, she said: “I won’t accept this victory tonight without calling out politicians and divisive figures who constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all the problems in society.”
Hailing the swing of 27.5 per cent from Labour to the 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.”
Labour’s chair Anna Turley said the result was “clearly disappointing” but attempted to play off the result as a typical challenge faced by governing parties.
“By-elections are normally difficult for the party of government, and this election was no different”, she said, adding: “We have had thousands of conversations over the last few weeks and we know the majority of voters here did not want the poisonous politics of Nigel Farage and Reform.”
Labour MPs quickly pinned the blame on Sir Keir and his leadership after 20 months of pain in government.
Leeds MP Richard Burgon told The Independent the result was “absolutely terrible”.
He said: “Blame for Labour’s defeat lies squarely with Keir Starmer and his clique. They put factional interests over having the candidate best placed to win, Andy Burnham.
“If Labour is to be the ‘Stop Reform’ party, then the leadership must stop treating progressive voters with contempt – and start appealing to them.”
Karl Turner told Times Radio that tonight’s result, which saw Sir Keir’s party come in third behind the Green Party and Reform, is “the worst result the Labour Party could have ever had”.
“We are in a position where we can’t out-left-wing the Greens, we tried to out-right-wing Reform on immigration, other such matters. My message to Keir, the prime minister, is this. Why don’t we try to be Labour?” he said.
But Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the election result was a “victory for sectarian voting and cheating”.
Posting on X, he added: “Matt Goodwin was a great candidate for us. Roll on the elections on May 7th. It will be goodbye Starmer and goodbye to the Tory party.”
It came after a report by election observer group Democracy Volunteers warned of high levels of “family voting” in the by-election, claiming to have witnessed the practice in 68 per cent of 22 polling stations monitored.
Family voting – where a voter is accompanied by another person near or in the booth with the intention to influence their vote – was made illegal by the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023.
The organisation said it attended 22 of the 45 polling stations in the constituency, spending 30 to 45 minutes in each, and witnessed family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed.
A spokesperson for the Conservative Party, which came a distant fourth, said: “Keir Starmer has killed the Labour Party.
“In losing one of Labour’s 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.”
Professor Curtice told the BBC that the result will raise questions about Sir Keir’s continued leadership but had wider implications.
“Doubtless the result will raise fresh questions in Labour MPs minds as to whether Sir Keir Starmer should remain prime minister.
“Yet it would be a mistake to believe the result in Gorton and Denton simply reflects disappointment with the leadership he and his government have provided since the 2024 election.
“Rather the by-election confirmed the message of the 2024 election that two of the key foundations of Labour’s traditional electoral coalition have crumbled away.”
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