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Sir Keir Starmer’s government has suffered a serious blow after the Green Party comfortably won the Gorton and Denton by-election, with Labour in third place behind Reform UK.
Earlier Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell had all but conceded defeat, telling Sky News that the Greens had “managed to win the argument” that they were “best placed” to beat Reform.
Labour had been locked in a bitter three-way fight with two populist parties, the left-wing Greens and right-wing Reform, in what had for nearly a century been a stronghold for the party. The Green Party’s candidate Hannah Spencer won, defeating Labour’s Angeliki Stogia and Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin. The Greens won 14,980 votes, against 10,578 for Reform and 9,364 for Labour.
The result had been considered too close to call right up until polling day and will once again leave Starmer facing turmoil in a party already worried about the upcoming May local elections.
Labour had been particularly concerned about a loss to the Greens, fearing it could make the populist party a viable alternative for progressive voters.
The loss of Gorton and Denton will also reignite the debate about whether Starmer’s allies were right to block the popular Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing as Labour’s candidate in the by-election.
At the 2024 general election Labour won the seat with a 13,413 majority.
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