By Alistair Smout
LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Andy Burnham’s Labour Party won an election for the parliamentary seat vacated by former leader Keir Starmer on Friday, fending off a strong challenge from the left-wing Green Party in a boost for the British prime minister.
Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, the leader of the local council, won the by-election in the central London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras with 12,292 votes, compared with 8,928 for Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader.
Labour had been widely expected to hold the seat, as Burnham seeks to repair his party’s damaged appeal among core voters in big cities after two bruising years in government under Starmer.
While Labour’s main rival in national polls is currently the populist Reform Party, the governing party is seeking to shore up support among left-leaning voters who had turned to the Greens before a national vote due in mid-2029.
The result will be a blow to Polanski, a 43-year-old former actor and hypnotherapist, who has promised to make his party “an eco-populist” movement and draw support away from Labour — a strategy that had been working until Burnham came to power.
Abdi-Wali paid tribute to Starmer in her victory speech and said she wanted to work with Burnham on issues such as housing.
“We have a responsibility to defend what we’ve built and pass it on,” she said. “Throughout our campaign, we chose hope, and the people of Holborn and St Pancras chose it with us. And now it’s time to deliver.”
BURNHAM’S ARRIVAL HAS SAPPED MOMENTUM FROM GREEN PARTY
Starmer was replaced as prime minister in July and stood down as a lawmaker in September after losing the support of his Labour Party over a series of missteps, U-turns and disastrous local election results in May.
The Green Party had made record gains in London — largely at Labour’s expense — in May’s local elections, capitalising on Starmer’s unpopularity.
But the Greens have fallen back in national polls since, after Burnham made several policy pitches that boosted Labour’s standing among voters to the left, including a tougher line on Israel and a more ambitious approach to relations with the European Union.
The result caps a damaging few days for Polanski, whose leadership of the Greens has been questioned after party members passed a Zionism is Racism motion to widespread criticism from Jewish groups, other parties and even most Green party lawmakers.
After the result, Polanski, who is Jewish, said he believed the displacement of Palestinian people was racist, although he declined to say that he supported the motion after not taking part in the vote last weekend.
He said that he was disappointed not to win the seat but would stay on as Green Party leader, adding that the party would continue to grow despite the setback.
“So many people told me on the doorstep that they want to give Andy Burnham a chance,” Polanski told broadcasters. “Well, he’s got a chance now. Let’s see what he does with it.”
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Kevin Buckland)
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