Labour wins Holborn and St Pancras byelection, ahead of the Greens
Britain's Labour Party won the Holborn and St Pancras byelection in London with 45% of the vote, leaving Green leader Zack Polanski second. Labour says the result shows it is starting to win back left-leaning voters.
Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali has won the byelection in Holborn and St Pancras, a north London constituency, taking 45% of the vote. The seat in the House of Commons was previously held by Keir Starmer, who was ousted as Labour leader. Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, stood himself and finished second on 33%. The result matters because Labour hopes it signals a return of left-leaning voters who became disillusioned under Starmer.
The byelection was called after Starmer gave up his Commons seat shortly after Andy Burnham replaced him. Turnout was fairly low at 38.7%, possibly because a Labour win was widely predicted, even though the Greens mounted a major campaign.
Reactions from Labour and the Greens
Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell said the result sends a clear message to voters who lost faith in the party in recent years. She said Labour had needed to be clearer about its values. Last month Powell called for the party to unite progressive voters behind Burnham.
Polanski acknowledged that the Greens remain a major threat to Labour, but said many voters had told him they wanted to give Burnham a chance. It was the Greens' second-best byelection result. Their best came in February, when they won Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester, and their national polling peaked at 21%. It now stands at about 11%.
Row inside the Greens
Last weekend the Greens adopted a highly controversial conference policy equating Zionism with racism and calling for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state. Polanski, who is Jewish, missed the vote to campaign in the byelection, and critics accuse him of abdicating leadership. After the result he said he would have voted against, since two amendments he backed were rejected.
Vivien Lichtenstein, chair of Jewish Greens, said he should resign, though other members of the group said she did not speak for the majority. Former Green leader Caroline Lucas said Polanski should have been present and voted, but did not say definitively whether he should stay on. The Greens re-elect their leader every two years, so Polanski, who took over in September 2025, must face members again in less than a year.
