The party have won the Gorton and Denton by-election after a close three-way battle saw
The Green party has won the Gorton and Denton by-election after a tight three-way battle.
Voters went to the polls in the crucial by-election on Thursday, February 26 with the result coming out in the early hours on Friday. Inside the count all parties were seen ‘looking tense’ as it felt ‘too close to call’, with the Greens gaining confidence as the count came to an end.
The vote was set off by the resignation of former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne on health grounds, and a reported fall from grace, and is seen as a major test of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership. Mr Gwynne had served as an MP for the constituency since 2005, when it was known as Denton and Reddish.
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Eleven candidates stood in the highly anticipated by-election, with polling stations opening up at 7am and shutting at 10pm. In Gorton and Denton, a divide across the borough has made the by-election very hard to call.
It is where some of the region’s poorest neighbourhoods sit in the shadow of affluence just miles away. The turnout at the election was 47.8 per cent, with 36,560 votes cast. This still means that more than 50 per cent of the electorate did not vote.
Labour’s Angeliki Stogia ran with Reform’s Matt Goodwin, who has been backed by the far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson, as well as Hannah Spencer for the Green Party.
It marks the Greens’ first ever victory in a parliamentary by-election, with a party source predicting a “seismic moment” in UK politics.
Ms Spencer won with a majority, with 14,980 votes. Matt Goodwin’s Reform came in second place, with 10,578 votes. Labour’s Angeliki Stogia came in third, with 9,364 votes.
Ahead of the result a Green Party source told the Press Association: “Things are feeling positive. Not wanting to get ahead of ourselves, but everything that we thought that was going to be happening looks like it’s happening. Whatever happens, I think it’s fair to say that Greens are here to stay now as a progressive voice in British politics.
“We’ve said from the start we’re not here to be disappointed by Labour, but we’re here to replace them. And from day one of the by-election, we’ve said that Greens are the only party that could beat Reform. And I think tonight we’re seeing both of those things potentially coming true.
“I think it’s a seismic moment in British politics where Greens are showing that they’re a party that can protect the country from the threat of Reform, and that Labour’s not up to the job.”
Labour’s deputy leader admitted during the count that the Greens had won the “argument that they were best placed” to keep Reform UK out of Gorton and Denton. Lucy Powell appeared to concede defeat as counting was underway.
During the count Senior Reform sources are said to have been confident that they had beaten Labour into third and have been informed it’s ‘not even close’.
Ahead of the vote it was a close race between Labour, Reform UK, and the Greens. Despite Labour having taking the seat in the 2024 general election with more than 50 per cent of the vote, the party was the third favourite in the by-election amid a surge in support for both the Greens and Reform.
All parties responded to claims of illegal ‘family voting’ in the polling booths in Gorton and Denton on Thursday. This was triggered as observers claimed there were ‘extremely high’ cases of illegal ‘family voting’ at polling stations.
This is when family members enter a voting booth together and collude or direct voting intentions and is a criminal offence under the Ballot Secrecy Act 2023.
Democracy volunteers claimed to have witnessed incidents of family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed. Green Party leader Zack Polanski suggested he would back a probe into family voting and support an “inquiry or further steps” if they are needed.
Reform UK chair David Bull told the BBC: “I am deeply concerned about the extent to which the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election is a free, fair, and democratic election.”