Labour hails byelection win as return of leftwing voters after Starmer era

The education secretary, Lucy Powell (left), with the newly elected MP Sagal Abdi-Wali, who won the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Labour is starting to win back voters on the left who became disillusioned under Keir Starmer’s leadership, the party’s deputy leader has claimed after it saw off Zack Polanski and the Greens to win the Holborn and St Pancras byelection.

Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali took 45% of a relatively low turnout to keep Starmer’s old north London seat for the party, pushing Polanski, who had stood for the party he leads, into second place on 33%.