The Green party has selected the former mayoral candidate Hannah Spencer to run in the Gorton and Denton byelection.
Spencer, a Trafford councillor and plumber by trade, used to live in the constituency and was the Green candidate for mayor of Manchester in the 2024 election, where she finished fifth behind Labour’s Andy Burnham, who retained the post, and Conservative, independent and Reform candidates.
Her nomination was officially announced on Friday in Longsight. The decision had been made democratically by local party members in online hustings the night before. Spencer is understood to have gained a large majority of the vote, beating competition that included Fesl Reza-Khan, who previously stood for the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat in the 2024 general election, finishing sixth, and Sarah Wakefield, a local campaigner and the former general secretary to the Manchester University student union.
Mothin Ali, a co-deputy leader of the party and a member of Leeds city council, was also expected to run but is understood to have decided against it, while the party leader, Zack Polanski, who is from Greater Manchester, was also touted to challenge for the constituency, but ruled himself out, instead hoping to vie for a future parliamentary seat in London, where he lives.
Should Spencer win the byelection, she would become the Greens’ fifth sitting MP, and their first ever in the north of England. At 34, she would also be their youngest ever MP.
After the announcement, Spencer said: “This is a crucial byelection. The choice is clear: Green v Reform. Hope v hate. Only the Green party can stop Reform in this byelection. I want to thank every single member and supporter who has already been out on the doorstep listening to voters.”
Polanski said: “Hannah Spencer will be a brilliant MP for the people of Gorton and Denton. I’m a Mancunian and know when someone genuinely wants to roll up their sleeves and work for the community. Hannah is that person.”
With the announcement, the Greens became the second party to declare their candidate for the constituency, after Reform UK announced the conservative commentator and former academic Matt Goodwin as its choice on 27 January. Labour is due to announce its candidate on Saturday, with many viewing its much-publicised blocking of Burnham’s candidacy as leaving the Greens and Reform as the two frontrunners.
The Greens feel they are well placed to challenge for the seat, with Polanski framing the contest as a “battle for the soul of our nation”, and telling the Guardian after a rally on Tuesday: “Even if it was Andy Burnham who was running, I think we still would have won.”
Labour is putting together a huge campaign to present itself as the only credible leftwing option against Reform, arguing that the Greens’ lack of a local base means they lack the experience to win the seat. “The Greens have no councillors and no data, which will make a big difference,” a Labour source said. “They have a good social media game but no ground game.”
The Labour deputy leader, Lucy Powell, a Manchester MP, is heavily involved in the campaign, with a series of other cabinet ministers already out knocking on doors. Burnham is expected to join the campaign once the candidate is announced at an event led by Powell and Anna Turley, the party chair.
The Labour source said: “Reform’s decision to pick Matt Goodwin has really galvanised our activists.
“And while the national Labour brand has its problems, the Manchester Labour brand is very strong. We’re throwing the kitchen sink at this and it’s totally winnable.”
Polanski officially launched his party’s campaign alongside guest speakers including the former party leader Natalie Bennett and the Your Party member and campaigner Salma Yaqoob. Polanski has downplayed talk of an alliance between the Greens and Your Party.
The Greens secured the endorsement of the pressure group the Muslim Vote (TMV), which threw its support behind the party in protest against the stance the other parties have taken towards the Gaza war. The Greens hope this will help attract Muslim voters – who make up roughly 30% of the constituency’s population – to their cause.
There had been suggestions by some close to the campaign that the endorsement was made on the assumption that either Ali or Reza-Khan, both practising Muslims, would secure the nomination. But TMV denied the endorsement was tied in any way to the religion of the candidate or that it would be withdrawn.
A spokesperson said: “The Muslim Vote will back Hannah Spencer as the best candidate for the upcoming byelection. This election is a straight race between Greens and Reform.
“The Green party position on protecting public services, focus on the cost of living crisis, and opposition to the genocide in Gaza, as well as their strong polling in the area, mean they are the best alternative to the politics of division promoted by Reform and the failed governance of Labour.”
The seat became available after the resignation of Andrew Gwynne over ill health.
