The disastrous result for Labour in Gorton and Denton will pile huge pressure on Keir Starmer, whose critics will demand a move to the left to counter the threat of the buoyant Green Party
Labour’s brutal defeat in Gorton and Denton will set up weeks of soul-searching at the top of the party.
The handsome majority the Green Party’s Hannah Spencer won in a previously safe seat will has been dubbed a wake up call for the leadership. The warning signs were there – Labour left-wingers have long accused Keir Starmer of focusing too heavily on Nigel Farage, leaving himself vulnerable to the Greens, led by an energetic Zack Polanski.
The latest setback will really sting. If the Greens can take Gorton and Denton, dozens of seats up and down the country are vulnerable. Mr Starmer’s critics argue the only way to counter that is with a swing to the left.
Former deputy PM Angela Rayner – tipped as a future leader – warned that things cannot go on as they are. She posted on X: “This result must be a wake up call. It’s time to really listen – and to reflect.”
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And she continued: “If we want to unrig the system, if we want to make the change we were sent into Government to make, we have to be braver. A labour agenda that puts people first.
“That’s what all of us across our movement need to rededicate ourselves to this morning.” And Sharon Graham, leader of trade union Unite, said: “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.”
The question now for Mr Starmer is how he responds to the new threat from the left. Last year the Runcorn and Helsby constituency fell to Reform UK, with divisive Sarah Pochin scraping through by six votes in a by-election.
That threat remains, so the PM finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. But Gorton and Denton shows that Labour can no longer rely on progressive voters to rally round a centre-left leadership. And that will worry him.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright said: “Labour’s entire strategy of framing politics as ‘it’s us v Reform’ is in tatters after its very first electoral test. If the Government does not change course immediately, it will face heavy losses in the May elections, and at that point the political consequences for Keir Starmer will become unavoidable.”
In the wake of the defeat, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was sent to face the media – vowing the leadership would “reflect and learn” from what happened. But she told Today: “The people of Gordon and Denton have now got an MP who might have well meaning but ultimately misplaced idealism. The world is not a soft and fluffy place at the moment.”
Labour HQ meanwhile remains defiant. A Labour source said: “The Greens can win a by-election, but they cannot win a general election. George Galloway – who backed the Greens in this by-election – won seats mid-term, only to lose them again. And he certainly never became PM.
“The Green Party’s policies, including legalising all drugs and withdrawing from Nato, are not a serious programme for government.”