The Green Party’s Hannah Spencer won by quite some margin in the Gorton and Denton by-election yesterday. Labour came third behind Reform. The Tories lost their deposit…
There was a 47.50% turnout. The results:
- Green: 40.7%
- Reform: 28.7%
- Labour: 25.4%
- Conservative: 1.92%
- LibDems: 1.77%
Labour had not lost an election in the area since 1931 until last night, near halving their 50.8% of the vote in 2024. That is Labour’s 13th highest fall in support in a by-election. Polling guru John Curtice told BBC Breakfast:
“The nervousness that already existed inside the Labor Party about Keir Starmer’s ability to turn around his party’s electoral fortunes, that nervousness is now going to be heightened. Not that there will be any move against the Prime Minister before May the 7th, but his chances of surviving after May the 7th if the results are bad, have, I think, been diminished.”
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell has already had to insist that “Keir is the right person for the job” this morning. The unions are starting to turn on Starmer, with general secretary of Unison Andrea Egan saying: “Under Keir Starmer the party is failing on every count, leaving the Greens to fill the vacuum.” Meanwhile, Reform’s Matt Goodwin said after his loss:
“A dangerous Muslim sectarianism has emerged. We have only one general election left to save Britain. Vote Reform every chance you get. I will continue the fight. I will always fight for you. I will stand at the next general election.”
Zack Polanski said after his party’s victory:
“This used to be one of Labour’s safest seats. The Green party saw a record-breaking swing in our direction and more than tripled our vote…Many ex-Labour voters told our canvassers that they will never go back to a party that supports genocide, fuels racism, and has failed to deliver on its promise to improve life for people across the country.”
Clock is ticking for Starmer…
The Green Party’s aggressive sectarian campaigning in Gorton & Denton is curious considering the party’s very much non-conservative policy on contentious faith issues. E.g. abolishing all faith schools…
Their policy on faith schools, uncovered on the members area on the Party’s own website, states that “no publicly-funded school shall be run by a religious organisation.” This would mean a radical move to end all taxpayer funding for faith schools…
- “At the same time we will abolish the requirement for a compulsory daily act of worship. Schools which choose to continue to hold acts of worship will provide an alternative activity for learners who choose not to take part.”
- “No publicly-funded school shall be run by a religious organisation.”
- “Privately-funded schools run by religious organisations must reflect the inclusive nature of British society and become part of the Local Authority admissions system.”
- “Opt-outs from equality and diversity legislation will not be allowed for faith schools and they will not be permitted to promote homophobia or transphobia on the grounds of religion.”
In 2024/25 there were 6,781 state funded faith schools in England – 34% of all state schools. This includes ones from religious groups including Church of England, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu. The Greens’ faith-mixing policy includes plans to “facilitate the children mixing with other local schools.” Deliberately allocating school places to children in schools that are farther away in order to ensure schools are “diverse”…
The policy comes from the Green Party charter, which is continuously revised. Policies passed by conference are adopted as party policy until rescinded. These are currently included in the Green Party’s library of “Policies for a Sustainable Society.” The official position on that is: “The Green Party’s Policies for a Sustainable Society (PSS) represents the policy foundation which the Party stands upon.”
The Greens have always been controversial for the forced progressivism of their education policy. In 2016, the Scottish Greens were attacked for proposing to close Catholic schools across Scotland. How will their official policy against faith schools go down with conservative Muslim voters in Gorton and Denton?
Green activists are promoting an online article suggesting Muslims should vote for the Green Party to forward the “interests and values” of British Muslims. Labour won’t be happy…
A piece on website Islam 21C by ‘jurist’ Shaykh Dr. Haitham al-Haddad asks if “Labour really deserve Muslim support” after having “contributed to the hostile environment against British Muslims” and adds: “the large number of Muslim voters in Gorton and Denton have a unique opportunity to make a powerful impact by taking part in this election.” And surprise – you have to vote for the Greens…
“A Green victory in Gorton and Denton could force Labour to take more positive steps that match with the interests and values of people of conscience nationwide, including British Muslims, and disempower the growing far right.”
The piece has some passages dedicated to coax conservative Muslims into voting for a party with otherwise ‘progressive’ views because votes “impact Muslims globally“:
“We should also remember that Muslims are not supposed to act on their whims and desires, but rather on the basis of our Islamic principles. We need to think not only about which candidates will meet our local concerns like protecting the NHS, making housing and living more affordable, and improving community safety, but also look at the bigger picture. We have to ask ourselves, how the way we vote can impact Muslims globally. After all, we have a moral responsibility to these brothers and sisters as well.
The point here is that even though we may not always feel comfortable with some of the social values that British political parties and candidates align with, these issues can be overlooked in pursuit of more urgent matters, for instance, protecting our brothers and sisters facing genocide in Gaza, or at the very least reducing harm against them.
Against this backdrop, the Muslim voters in Gorton and Denton are front and centre in this national conversation. It is as if Allah has favoured these brothers and sisters with the ability to make a decision that could help decide the whole country’s long-term future.”
The piece has been shared by a Green Muslim organiser to activists, who says a Green organiser contributed to it and “it makes a quite compelling case to vote Green in the constituency from an Islamic perspective.“ Balkanised…
Since Guido revealed the Greens were sharing a video entirely in Urdu on Monday Labour has accused the party of “manipulating” Muslim voters. Deputy Leader Lucy Powell said the party was guilty of “a shameful attempt to manipulate the respected Muslim community.” Campaigning reaching a frenzy in the last two days…
The Green Party ground campaign is targeting local schools this week in Gorton & Denton. Their campaign organisation is a little rusty, though…
The Green briefing at the start of the week on the school campaign was as follows:
“How to approach people
We are well within our rights to be outside the school grounds, so approach people with confidence and friendliness.
You can say “good morning” or “Salam alaikum” to people as they pass, and hand them a leaflet.Reminder that on Monday we are using the “Ramadan Mubarak” cards, or you can also give the “RACIST REFORM OR A GREEN MP” if you don’t think they are celebrating Ramadan.
After Monday, it’s not appropriate to give the cards anymore, so we’ll all switch to the Reform or Green one.
Our Main Message
The main message is that Greens CAN win, and they are our best chance of keeping Reform out.What to Wear
Please dress somewhat nicely, and if you have a Green sticker, rosette, or high vis, please wear it!”
Six local schools are targeted for leafleting between the hours of 8-9 a.m. and 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. New material was handed out to parents this morning and the Greens have produced extra leaflets “for multilingual doorknocking or mosque visits.” Thanks to a dearth of available activists Green organisers dropped one school from the rota and made apologies to local volunteers: “This is a new campaign action for us and we’re learning fast!” This chimes with spin from Labour which claims the Greens don’t have enough on-ground organisation capacity to match them…
Thanks to that the Greens have been scrambling to get more support from local party members on the ground – converting them to activists. 1,369 calls were made last night to members, and activists were told: “We managed to speak to almost 400 members and signed 55 up for campaigning this week, with about 69 maybes. 99% of members who live within 30 minutes have now received a call, and we have spoken to almost a third of them. So far, we have “activated” over 400 additional members for this campaign.” Bit late…
The Greens have produced a video of their candidate Hannah Spencer speaking in Urdu. Here’s a translation of the key passages:
“A cruel politician can win if we don’t vote Green to stop the Reforms…
Workers, cleaners, drivers, mothers – it’s us who keep this area running. But the politicians are not working for us…
The Reforms want to break up our communities. They want to deport families who have lived here for years, and they want to tax people born abroad even more. They give air to Islamophobia, and they put our safety and dignity at risk. But there is another way…
I know, wherever I am in the world, whom I represent. I know what it means to work hard to earn a living, and I also know how to hold power and greed accountable. On February 26th let’s unite our vote behind the Greens.”
The accompanying visuals are striking. Blatant from the Greens…
The party is conducting a major last push. It told activists on the weekend:
“We hit all 14 mosques this Friday – 14/14! Thank you, everyone…
Our Ramadan cards went down a treat, even with the battle of the leaflets against Labour! We are now in our critical final 5 days, and we need volunteers to help with Taraweeh conversations and leafleting.
Do you attend evening Taraweeh at any of these mosques? If so, can you help with leaflets and conversations after prayers?”
Greens trying hard to mobilise their targeted ground campaign…
Polls open in Gorton and Denton on Thursday. Both Reform and the Greens say it is a two-horse race, with Labour squeezed into third place despite winning more than 50% of the vote in 2024. Labour’s ground game is now focused on undecided voters, who Labour sources insist will tilt the result on the day. Greater Manchester Mayor (and spurned candidate) Andy Burnham is being used to court those sitting on the fence. Below is the leaflet circulating throughout the constituency…
Burnham is holding small surgeries alongside the candidate Angeliki Stogia to persuade wavering voters. He may not actually be on the ballot, but campaigners are still acting as if he is. Starmer’s name and face are nowhere to be seen. When Guido asked if the PM was still a big part of the campaign, local sources said he was “welcome to join us” if he wanted… and Manchester Labour is “strong”.
The campaign knows it is haemorrhaging support amongst Muslim voters to the Greens. Sources say they are “not taking that community for granted“. Co-conspirators only need to read the party’s leaflets for evidence of that. As for the sea of Green Party signs sweeping through parts of the constituency, Labour insists Green canvassers are encouraging residents to stick Green posters in their windows as an omen to Reform door-knockers. ‘They’ll leave you alone if you put this up’…
UPDATE: Starmer has finally arrived in the constituency this afternoon…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
