GREEN Party leader Zack Polanski has announced he is seeking to stand in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election which was triggered when Keir Starmer resigned as an MP.
Polanski announced his plan to secure the Green nomination for the candidacy, and win a place in Parliament, to the Camden New Journal.
“I have lived and worked in this community over many years, I know it well and I love it,” he said in an interview with the north London newspaper.
“It represents so many of the things that make London so special. I am so excited by the prospect of representing this place in Parliament.”
Former prime minister Starmer announced he would quit as an MP on Tuesday, as Parliament returned from its summer recess, despite having previously insisted he would stay on as a backbencher until the next General Election.
Labour has held this inner London constituency continuously since the seat was created in 1983, winning at least 40% of the vote at every election.
Only two Labour MPs have ever represented Holborn and St Pancras: former health secretary Frank Dobson, from 1983 to 2015, then former prime minister Starmer.
At the most recent general election in 2024, Starmer held the seat with 48.9% of the vote, ahead of independent candidate Andrew Feinstein in second place on 18.9% and the Greens in third place on 10.4%.
The Conservatives were fourth on 7.2%, Reform finished fifth on 6.1% and the Liberal Democrats were sixth on 5.8%.
The popularity of the independent and Green candidates at the 2024 contest, finishing second and third respectively, may have been partly down to former Labour voters protesting at Starmer's refusal to take a stronger position on the genocide in Gaza.
Both the independent and Green candidates focused on this issue during the election campaign.
Before Polanski officially becomes the Green Party’s candidate, he has to be selected by the local party.
Polanski further added that "it’s a clear fight between Labour and the Green Party".
"We know that people are struggling – that the things we used to afford are increasingly out of reach – and this is a chance to send a very clear message that we won’t sit by as we get poorer and extreme wealth is concentrated at the very top," he said.
“What voters in Holborn and St Pancras will get with me as their MP is someone totally dedicated to standing up for them. Put simply I will use my place in Parliament to force the current Labour government into making life more affordable for the people who live here.”
