Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure from his own party after the Greens secured a historic byelection victory in Gorton and Denton, overturning a Labour majority of nearly 13,000. The result has plunged the party into fresh despair and revived talk of a leadership challenge within months.
Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green councillor, became the party's fifth MP on Friday, with Reform UK's Matt Goodwin finishing second, ahead of Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia. The defeat in a constituency that had elected Labour MPs for almost a century has left ministers and backbenchers dismayed, just weeks after Starmer saw off a previous challenge to his position.
Even loyal ministers acknowledged the need for change, with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner calling the result a “wake-up call”. However, Starmer appeared to resist the pressure, attacking the Greens as an “extreme” leftwing equivalent to Reform UK in a message to his MPs.
Without a significant turnaround, Starmer could face a leadership challenge after May's elections to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils, where Labour is expected to perform poorly. One poll suggested Labour could fall to fourth place in Scotland, behind the SNP, Reform, and the Scottish Greens.
The sense of humiliation was compounded by Downing Street's decision to block Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing in the byelection, with many believing his local popularity could have saved the seat. Burnham and Starmer held talks this week, described as initially awkward but ultimately constructive.
For the Greens, the victory was historic, signalling their potential as an alternative to Reform. In her victory speech, Spencer said she offered voters an alternative to “working to line the pockets of billionaires”, and stressed unity: “We did this, side by side, shoulder to shoulder.”
