The political capital available for winning the Gorton and Denton by-election is immense. And so, therefore, is the pressure.
So it may come as no surprise that the three parties in the running to win when the result is announced in the early hours should resort to some electoral chicanery.
Reform, Labour and the Greens have all faced accusations of fighting dirty in the Manchester suburbs.
Issues include creating fictional organisation, misrepresenting the views of a local granny and creating videos that were branded ‘dog-whistle racism’.
Labour won Gorton and Denton in 2024 with more than half the vote but polling suggests the party’s candidate Angeliki Stogia faces a tight three-way contest with Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin and the Greens’ Hannah Spencer.
Victory would buy Sir Keir some breathing space after a period in which his leadership of Labour has been questioned.
But defeat is likely to pile the pressure back on, with some suggesting a third-placed finish in a previously safe part of Greater Manchester could spell the end for the Prime Minister.
Labour was accused of inventing a fictitious tactical voting firm to convince leftwing voters to choose them over the Greens to keep Reform from winning
Reform narrowly avoided a fine over a leaflet purporting to be from a ‘concerned neighbour’ which did not mention that it was being send on behalf of the party
The Greens were accused of ‘whipping up hatred’ over Gaza and the UK’s links with India in parts of the constituency with a large Muslim population
Labour
Labour was accused of inventing a fictitious tactical voting firm to convince Left-wing voters to choose them over the Greens to keep Reform from winning.
Zack Polanski’s party said that leaflets purporting to be from ‘Tactical Choice’ recommending that voters back Labour were ‘desperate’ – because Tactical Choice dos not appear to exist.
But at the same time, according to the Huffington Post, two real tactical voting organisations, Tactical.Vote and StopTheTories.Vote – have already recommended voters back the Greens.
The offending leaflet says: ‘The Tactical Choice says Vote Labour. Based on a new prediction made in the last 24 hours we are recommending voting Labour.’
A Green source said: ‘They’ve had to make this up because every actual tactical voting organisation has endorsed the Green Party as the best hope to keep Reform out in this election.’
Labour did not try to deny that it had made up the group, but a campaign spokesman said: ‘The Greens have been pumping out fake news and deploying dirty tactics for weeks. We’ll take no lectures from them.’
The Greens also complained about a campaign vehicle which urged voters to ‘do not vote for the Greens’ and warned of ‘Green madness’.
It reportedly claimed the Greens want to ‘let our daughters be used for legal prostitution’.
The Greens were said to have reported Labour to police over alleged electoral law breaches.
It comes after the Daily Mail showed how the Greens back legalising prostitution and freeing up access to sexually explicit pornography.
The flyer (pictured) was put through voters’ doors in the Greater Manchester constituency on Wednesday evening, before they head to the polls today
The leaflet (pictured) purports to be from a firm called ‘Tactical Choice’, encouraging tactical voting. Text on the flyer says this strategic choice would be Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia
The Greens
For its part, Labour has accused the Greens of ‘whipping up hatred’ over Gaza in parts of the constituency with a large Muslim population.
The party even put out a campaign video in Urdu which featured images of Sir Keir shaking hands with Indian PM Narendra Modi.
Labour MP Dr Jeevun Sandher said the video ‘doesn’t feel relevant to Gorton and Denton’, adding: ‘I can hear the dog whistle.’
The Greens have also been accused of misquoting a leading academic in their campaign material.
The party put out a campaign video in Urdu which featured images of Sir Keir shaking hands with Indian PM Narendra Modi
The Greens have also been accused of misquoting a leading academic in their campaign material
Late in the campaign the Greens faced further criticism over a leaflet designed to get their vote out
Early in the campaign a leaflet quoted Manchester University professor Rob Ford, as saying: ‘The route to victory for the Greens looks more straightforward. A Green victory over Reform, with Labour third, is perhaps the most dangerous result of all for the current [Labour] leadership.’
However, he said his quote was ”misleading out of context’. After they repeated the error he made an official complaint to the returning officer.
Late in the campaign the Greens faced further criticism over a leaflet designed to get their vote out.
A leaflet breathlessly said that there were just ‘600 votes in it’ between them and Reform and ‘no one else can win it’, when most polls have it as a close three-way fight.
Additionally a poll on the leaflet was dramatically out of proportion, making Labour seem further behind than they actually are.
Reform
Reform’s Mat Goodwin narrowly avoided a fine over a leaflet purporting to be from a ‘concerned neighbour’ which did not mention that it was being send on behalf of the party.
The missive that went to 81,000 homes landed him in the High Court with his lawyer begging a judge not to fine him £5,000.
Under the Representation of the People Act 1983, election material must include the name and address of those promoted by the document, the promoter, and the printer.
At a hearing last week, lawyers for the candidate and his election agent, Adam Rawlinson, told the High Court that some of Mr Goodwin’s election leaflets failed to include a ‘statutory imprint’ saying who it was from, which constituted ‘inadvertent illegal practice’.
At a subsequent hearing yesterday they asked the court to rule that they do not have to face a fine of up to £5,000 for what their barrister described as an ‘honest administrative error’ caused by the company which printed the leaflets.
Reform’s Mat Goodwin narrowly avoided a fine over a leaflet purporting to be from a ‘concerned neighbour’ which did not mention that it was being send on behalf of the party.
In a ruling, Mr Justice Butcher said he was ‘satisfied’ that the pair should not be sanctioned for the rule breach and had taken ‘appropriate steps to put it right’.
Adam Richardson, for Mr Goodwin and Mr Rawlinson, told the court in London that the draft versions of the leaflet sent between Mr Goodwin’s team and the printers, Hardings Print Solutions, all included the imprint and were checked ‘in the usual way multiple times’.
He continued that ‘for reasons known only to themselves, Hardings decided to put on a different font at the last minute’.
He said: ‘Had (Mr Goodwin and Mr Rawlinson) known that was going to take place, they would have prevented it.’