Sadiq Khan has called on Labour to abandon its “flawed strategy” of taking progressive voters for granted, following the party’s humiliating third-place finish in the Gorton and Denton byelection. The London mayor said the result exposed a “far-reaching change and fracturing” in British politics that Labour must address.
The byelection saw the Green party’s Hannah Spencer overturn a Labour majority of more than 13,000 to become the party’s fifth MP. Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia finished behind both the Greens and Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin, in what Khan described as a “terrible result” for a seat held for nearly a century.
Writing in The Guardian, Khan directly challenged Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s characterisation of the Greens as “extreme”, arguing that many Green supporters share Labour’s values but are disappointed with the government. “Calling them extreme will only turn more people away,” he wrote.
The mayor warned that trying to compete with Reform UK on the right was “inauthentic” and a “betrayal of Labour values”. He said the party faced an “existential” threat in parts of the country and risked losing strongholds like London unless it changed course before the May local elections.
Khan stopped short of calling for Starmer’s resignation, but said the prime minister’s “good work” had been overshadowed by “missteps and political positioning”. He cautioned against creating political instability given global economic and geopolitical uncertainty, but urged a fundamental rethink of Labour’s approach.
