Left-wing plumber helps U.K. Green Party win special election, pushing Starmer’s Labour to third place

Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer, right, celebrates with party leader Zack Polanski at a volunteer thank you event after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election, Manchester, England, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

LONDON — The Green Party won a special parliamentary election in England on Friday, a big boost for the small party and a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose centre-left Labour Party was relegated to third place.

Green candidate Hannah Spencer was declared winner of the contest in Gorton and Denton early Friday, with 14,980 votes. Matthew Goodwin of hard-right party Reform UK got 10,578 votes. Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia received 9,364.

The result illustrates the increasingly fragmented political landscape in Britain, which was dominated for decades by the Labour and Conservative parties. The Gorton and Denton constituency in Greater Manchester elected Labour lawmakers for almost all of the last century, but Starmer’s government has seen its popularity plunge since it won office in July 2024.

Labour’s share of the vote was halved from 2024 national election, when it won the area easily. Spencer won by an unexpectedly wide margin to give the environmentalist Greens their fifth seat in the 650-seat House of Commons.

“For people here in Gorton and Denton who feel left behind and isolated: I see you and I will fight for you,” said Spencer, plumber and a local councilor, in her victory speech.

She apologized to her plumbing customers, saying she would have to cancel some appointments because “I’m heading to Parliament.”

The Green Party beat not just Labour, which holds 404 Commons seats, but the anti-immigration Reform UK, led by the veteran hard-right politician Nigel Farage, which holds eight Commons seats but has topped national opinion polls for months.

Jenny Jones, a Green member of the House of Lords, called the result “absolutely seismic.”

The outcome of the election, which was triggered by the resignation of the area’s former Labour lawmaker, had been hard to call, in a diverse area that has traditional working-class neighborhoods — once strongly Labour, now tilting toward Reform — as well as large numbers of university students and Muslim residents. Many of them feel disillusioned by Labour’s centrist shift under Starmer and the government’s perceived slowness at criticizing Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza — fertile ground for the Green Party.

Under “eco-populist” leader Zack Polanski, the Greens have expanded beyond environmental concerns to focus on issues including the cost of living, legalization of drugs and support for the Palestinian cause.

Setbacks for Starmer

Starmer has endured a string of setbacks since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024. He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living. He pledged a return to honest government after 14 years of Conservative government that ended in scandals and chaos, but has been beset by missteps and U-turns over welfare cuts and other unpopular policies.

Friday’s defeat underscores the depth of Labour’s unpopularity and the challenge it faces from both left and right.

The next national election does not have to be held until 2029, meaning the main threat to Starmer comes from within his own party, whose lawmakers are considering whether to ditch him for a new leader.

Starmer had a narrow escape earlier this month as party discontent spiked after revelations about the relationship between sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson, the veteran Labour politician appointed by Starmer in 2024 to be U.K. ambassador to Washington.

Police are investigating emails suggesting Mandelson passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. Mandelson was arrested and questioned by detectives this week before being released on bail. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.

Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2025 after evidence emerged that the ambassador had maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. But recent revelations have stirred up Labour lawmakers’ anger at Starmer’s poor judgment in appointing Mandelson to the Washington job.

Starmer also will face questions about why the party blocked Andy Burnham, the popular Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, from running in the byelection. Burnham is widely seen as a potential leadership rival to Starmer.

The defeat will bolster those who argue that the government’s efforts to win over “Reform-curious” voters with policies aimed at curbing immigration have alienated many liberal voters.

Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell said “what is really clear is that there is a big majority in this constituency that hasn’t voted for Reform. And on the day the Greens have managed to win that argument that they were best placed to do that.”

But she insisted that “there is no leadership contest” in the Labour Party.

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press