Greens can win greater than 100 seats at subsequent election after Gorton and Denton victory, says Zack Polanski: Live updates and response
The Greens are today celebrating their first ever victory in a UK by-election as the party stunned Labour and Reform to take the Gorton and Denton seat in Greater Manchester.
Hannah Spencer won the vote after securing 14,980 ballots, more than 4,000 ahead of her nearest challenger Reform’s Matt Goodwin.
Ms Spencer’s victory piles fresh misery onto Keir Starmer who insisted only Labour could defeat Nigel Farage’s Reform in the run-up to yesterday’s by-election.
The Greens’ victory at Gorton and Denton represents the sixth largest Labour majority to be overturned at a by-election since the Second World War.
Leader Zack Polanski predicted a ‘tidal wave’ of Green MPs at the next election with the party claiming they are on course for more than 100 seats if the vote swing in Manchester is replicated across the country.
Reacting to his party’s defeat, Nigel Farage claimed there had been ‘cheating’ after official observers raised the alarm about ‘family voting’ – a major breach of electoral law.
Family voting is where a voter is accompanied by another person into or near polling booths with the intention of influencing their vote.
The Reform UK leader posted on X: ‘This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating. Matt Goodwin was a great candidate for us. Roll on the elections on May 7th. It will be goodbye Starmer and goodbye to the Tory party.’
Meanwhile Labour infighting has broken out with MPs questioning colleagues on what they did to help the party in Gorton and Denton with one Starmer critic declaring there needed to be ‘change at the top’.
Follow all the latest political reaction from the Gordon and Denton by-election
Labour infighting breaks out in wake of Gorton and Denton defeat
I didn’t knock a single door in the by-election. I’ve been up in Hull, looking after my 9 year old daughter that’s just come from the care of @AlderHey after major reconstructive hip and femur surgery. So if the Labour MP in question wants to talk to me, give me a bell.
Electoral Commission ‘aware’ of family voting claims
We are aware of the report. Electoral offences are a matter for the police. We encourage anyone who believes an offence has occurred to report it to the police.
The statutory electoral observer Code of Practice says that electoral observers may bring potential irregularities, fraud or significant problems to the attention of elected officials on the spot.
We provide advice and guidance to Returning Officers which supports their training of electoral staff and is available to staff in polling stations to guide decision making on polling day.
Union boss says Labour should stop ‘listening to your rich mates’
If Labour needed any further wake up calls – this is clearly one. Labour need to now ditch the gimmicks and get back to being Labour – not new, not one that plays games, but real Labour.
Workers and families are hurting. We have a cost-of-living crisis largely being ignored and investment in jobs for the here-and-now being blocked by a Treasury that doesn’t seem to understand the basics of what is needed to build Britain. Stop listening your rich mates and start listening to everyday people.
Labour minister suggests Electoral Commission should look into family voting claims
Clearly the reports that came in overnight are concerning. Elections must be conducted in line with electoral law. People should be able to vote in a free way and not subject to any coercion.
And so it would be right that the appropriate authorities, including potentially the Electoral Commission, look into those reports.
Zack Polanski: Greens ready to ‘do it all again’ at local elections
I think they are telling us that they want an alternative to this failing Labour Government, and also Manchester wanted to reject the divisive and extreme politics of Reform but they’re telling us in Hannah and the Green Party there was a plan to lower people’s bills, protect our National Health Service and rebuild our public services.
I believe that’s why Hannah won with a majority of over 4,000 and it’s why there’s now no no-go area for the Green Party in England and Wales and, in 70 days time at the local elections, we intend to do it all again.
Watch: Hannah Spencer delivers victory speech
Labour MP: We need answers to take on Reform and Greens
We now have an economic model supported by… governments successively who haven’t been willing to stand up to it. That is on the side of grifters in this country, and not the side of grafters.
And if this Labour Party is going to win the next election, if it’s going to stand up to politicians like Green and Reform – who I don’t believe have the answers to those questions – we need to come up with those answers, and we need to be brave enough to take on the vested interests in order to deliver.
Labour frontbencher admits Greens were better at ‘mobilising anti-Reform vote’
There is no direct read across from what happens in a by-election to what happens in a subsequent general election.
And just because people in Gorton and Denton voted for a Green MP, it doesn’t automatically follow that they want Zack Polanski to be their prime minister, or for that matter, Nigel Farage, which I think is the greater threat across the country.
Polling expert believes Starmer’s chance of surviving May elections have ‘diminished’
There are two big messages that come out of this. The first, of course, the most immediate, is that the nervousness that already existed inside the Labor Party about Keir Starmer’s ability to turn around his party’s electoral fortunes, that nervousness is now going to be heightened.
Not that there will be any move against the Prime Minister before May the 7th, but his chances of surviving after May the 7th if the results are bad, have, I think, been diminished.
