Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer has won the Gorton and Denton by-election, dealing a significant blow to Labour and Keir Starmer’s government.
The Greater Manchester seat was won by Labour at the 2024 general election with more than 50% of the vote.
But, for the second by-election in a row, the party of government’s support appears to have collapsed – and this time, to a very different political adversary.
Ahead of polling day on Thursday, it was widely seen as a three-horse race between Spencer, Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia and Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin.
Spencer, a plumber from the local area, will become the fifth Green Party MP in the House of Commons and the first addition since new leader Zack Polanski generated a considerable boost in the polls.
Her victory also marks the first time the Green Party has ever come top in a Westminster by-election.
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She is expected to celebrate with a karaoke session in the constituency later this afternoon, before joining the Iftar at a local mosque to thank her Muslim followers.
In her victory speech just after 4.30am, Spencer said: ‘Something exciting is definitely happening, and I invite you all to be part of it.
‘Come and join the Green Party, so that we can spread hope and win everywhere across the country.’
A victory for the Green Party may have been the worst-case scenario for Labour, which spent the campaign insisting it was the only party that could beat Reform UK.
This result suggests the party of government faces a challenge from populism on the left as well as populism on the right.
And it will put an even stronger spotlight on Polanski, who has proven to be a much slicker media performer than Starmer.
MPs on the ‘soft left’ of Labour may put pressure on the Prime Minister to shift his approach to appeal more to potential Green voters – or they may even be emboldened to try replacing him with one of their own.
Earlier this morning, the party’s deputy leader Lucy Powell said the Greens ‘have managed to win that argument that they were best placed’ to keep out Reform in the seat.
Labour devoted a large amount of time and effort to retaining Gorton and Denton, with Starmer and many of his Cabinet colleagues travelling north to campaign.
Last month, the party blocked popular Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from running in the seat, saying it was not worth forcing a separate by-election to replace him.
The move led to accusations that Starmer was prioritising his own political survival over backing the strongest possible candidate.
Burnham was widely considered a top candidate to replace the PM if he decided to launch a leadership coup.
Following the decision, he lent his full-throated support to Stogia in her bid to win the seat.
However, the dramatic failure announced this morning is likely to reignite arguments in the party over whether Burnham should have been given a chance.
Angela Rayner, another potential challenger to Starmer whose Ashton-under-Lyne constituency borders Gorton and Denton to the north, also spent time campaigning there.
The by-election resulted from the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, who was elected as a Labour MP but lost the whip in February 2025 after offensive Whatsapp messages emerged in the media.
After spending 11 months as an independent MP, he announced he was resigning on January 22 due to ‘significant ill health’.
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