The Prime Minister tried to put a brave face on it after one of Labour’s safest seats fell to the Green Party – but he faces the wrath of anxious backbenchers calling for a reset
There was no sugar-coating the scale of Labour’s defeat in Gorton and Denton.
In the early hours of Friday morning, it became clear one of the party’s safest seats in the country had fallen to the Green Party. Cautious optimism among the army of activists pounding the streets of the Greater Manchester constituency in recent days vanished as Labour’s vote share collapsed by 25%.
Worse still, the party finished in third place – behind Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK. The Greens, who had the Greater Manchester seat as 127th on their target list, were jubilant, describing the result as “seismic”. Local plumber Hannah Spencer stormed to victory, becoming the first ever Green candidate to win a by-election.
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While admitting the result was disappointing, Keir Starmer attempted to strike a defiant tone, telling reporters he would “keep on fighting” for “as long as I’ve got breath in my body”. In a letter sent to all Labour MPs on Friday afternoon, he added: “It hurts. But this is the kind of result that we have often seen parties of government face. In by-elections people can make their voice heard without risking a change of government. I get it: people are rightly impatient to see the change they voted for.” A No10 source said: “We have a progressive manifesto which is popular with the public and we need to get on with the delivery. It’s not about copying the Greens platform. There is always a problem in Government that there are distractions. But there is a meaty agenda that we need to shout about. “The most important thing is the cost of living and we have to keep going at that really hard rather than giving up to go down another alley.” The source added: “We have the Greens on one extreme and Reform on the other. We have a real opportunity to deliver for mainstream Britain.”
“I wasn’t complacent, but I knew we could do it.” One Labour MP from the 2024 intake told The Mirror: “He [the PM] blocked Andy and now he has to own it.” Another said the so-called King of the North would have won the contest. It was a message repeated by the Labour MP Karl Turner during a series of thunderous interviews on Friday. “I can bet you now without any problem whatsoever Andy Burnham would have won that by-election yesterday without a shadow of a doubt. That’s the truth and we can’t deny it, ” he fumed on the Today programme. “Andy Burnham would have been the MP for that seat now.” But while some were keen to vent their anger on the airwaves the vast majority of Labour MPs – at least publicly – have remained silent so far.
One Labour MP said: “It was clear after the failed coup [against the PM] the other week that whilst people aren’t happy with us they don’t want pissing around. We need to get on with the job and then see how the land lies in the medium term.” They are also bracing for the much bigger moment in May when millions head to the polls with over 6,000 council seats across England up for grabs alongside the Scottish and Welsh parliamentary elections. It will be Mr Starmer’s biggest electoral test since the 2024 general election and one that could determine his future in Downing Street.