London, February 27 The Labour Party, led by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was shocked by a major election result in northern England on Friday, as the left-wing Green Party candidate edged out the ruling party, placing it in third place after Reform UK, a far-right party.
Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber and newcomer to politics, hailed her win as a sign that the Greens can also unseat other Labour members of Parliament in the future.
When questioned about her campaign's controversial Urdu-language videos and leaflets featuring Starmer alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the newly elected MP for Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester dismissed the allegations that they were "sectarian."
"I believe that all of us know what it feels like to be excluded from a system that isn't built for us, and I will always try to include people who are struggling to access something," Spencer told the BBC shortly after her win.
When asked why her campaign materials featured Modi, she dismissed the association and sought to distance herself from it.
"I have just been talking to people every day, listening to people, and when people couldn't access information in a way that others could, we tried to learn from that and provide literature and information in a language they speak," she said.
However, the Labour Party had accused the Greens of using divisive tactics in a blatant attempt to appeal to the constituency's significant British-Pakistani electorate.
"Racism has no place in our politics, yet once again, we are seeing cynical tactics that risk inflaming community tensions for electoral gain," Navendu Mishra, a Labour MP for nearby Stockport, had said.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski responded to the allegation by posting the party's campaign video in Bangla on social media.
"The right-wing trolls hated seeing our campaign video in Urdu. So here it is in Bangla instead. I love our party," he said.
The Gorton and Denton win marks the party's first byelection victory, as the Greens continue to gain momentum alongside a similar upward trajectory for the anti-immigration Reform UK.
Spencer becomes the party's fifth MP in Parliament, winning by a substantial margin of 4,402 votes, defeating Reform UK's candidate who received 10,578 votes. Labour, which had not lost an election in the area since 1931, mustered just 9,364 votes.
"It's a very disappointing result," admitted Starmer, whose leadership has come under added pressure following the outcome.
"Incumbent governments often experience results like this during mid-term elections, but I understand that voters are frustrated and impatient for change. And I entered politics later in life, as it happens, to fight for change for those who need it... and I will continue to fight for them as long as I have breath in my body," he said.
His party's former deputy prime minister and a contender for the top job, Angela Rayner, said the shock result must be a "wake-up call" for Labour.
Labour had won the constituency with a majority of 13,413 in the July 2024 general election, but was thrown into a battle against Polanski-led Greens and Nigel Farage-led Reform UK following the suspension and resignation of incumbent Andrew Gwynne over abusive WhatsApp messages.
