Nigel Farage has made accusations of “cheating” in the Gorton and Denton by-election after the Reform candidate lost to the Green Party by thousands of votes.
The Reform UK leader made claims of “sectarian voting and cheating” as the Greens won its first ever parliamentary by-election, dealing a bitter blow to Sir Keir Starmer and Labour.
Labour’s defeat, trailing in third behind Zack Polanski’s Greens and Farage’s Reform UK in the previously rock-solid Greater Manchester constituency, will pile pressure on the Prime Minister. Hannah Spencer, a councillor and plumber, emerged victorious for the Greens, with 14,980 votes and a majority of 4,402 votes.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
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Reform UK’s candidate Matt Goodwin got 10,578 votes, with Labour’s Angeliki Stogia trailing on 9,364, down from 18,555 in the 2024 general election, when the turnout was similarly high.
However, both Farage and their candidate appeared were not best pleased with the result as accusations were made following defeat.
Farage 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.”
Reform’s candidate in the by-election, Goodwin, also backed Farage’s claims and said he will stand in the next election.
Also writing on X, he said: “We are losing our country. A dangerous Muslim sectarianism has emerged. We have only one general election left to save Britain. Vote Reform every chance you get. I will continue the fight. I will always fight for you. I will stand at the next general election. Matt.”
The Green Party said Farage’s claims of “sectarian voting and cheating” were an attempt to undermine a democratic result in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
A Greens spokesperson said: “This is an attempt to undermine the democratic result and is straight out of the Trump playbook.
“We’ve just won a historic by-election by a comfortable margin. We’ve shown the country that Greens can beat Reform, despite their big business donations.”
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