By Election flashpoint: Green Party wins Gorton and Denton by election as Labour falls to third

The Green Party has taken the Gorton and Denton seat in a by election that marks the party's first ever Westminster by-election win, a result that removes a long-held Labour grip on the area and reshuffles immediate political narratives.

Hannah Spencer: plumber-turned-politician claims historic win

Hannah Spencer, the Greens' candidate, becomes the new MP for Gorton and Denton, celebrating her victory with a selfie alongside party leader Zack Polanski. In her victory speech Spencer vowed to fight for people who feel "left behind, " a line that featured prominently as the Greens significantly outperformed expectations.

Reform finishes second while Labour, party of government, drops to third

Reform UK finished in second place in the contest, with Labour — the party of government and the long-time holder of the seat — pushed into third. Labour had not lost in this area since 1931, making the result a notable break with decades of history.

Pre-election drama and the wider by-election calendar

The contest was the second Westminster by-election since the general election and had been shaped by months of drama. The question of when and how Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, might return to Westminster was a feature of the build-up; a bid for Burnham to run for Labour in Gorton and Denton was stymied when the prime minister leaned on the bureaucratic strictures of the Labour Party, an intervention that prevented that candidacy. The Gorton and Denton contest had been scheduled for Thursday 26 February, and observers had expected a tight three-way tussle between Labour, Reform and the Green Party.

Recent by-election pattern and Reform's momentum

Earlier in the cycle, Reform UK won the first post-general election contest in Runcorn and Helsby in Cheshire last May, beating Labour by a whisker. That victory was the 10th consecutive Westminster by-election in which a different party took a seat from the party that previously held it. Commentators had emphasised that by-elections do not alter Westminster arithmetic — each is one seat out of 650 — but they can change the political mood and momentum for parties on different parts of the spectrum.

Debate over leaders, tactical voting and the electoral system

Political editor Chris Mason said the result was "a headache for the prime minister, " noting that Keir Starmer had spent much of his time as prime minister fretting about the rise of one insurgency, Reform UK, broadly on the right; Mason argued Starmer now must confront the reality of an insurgency broadly on the left from the Green Party. Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice framed the Greens' outperformance as leaving British politics "more uncertain than ever. "

Critics of First Past The Post had warned that where three or more parties contest a seat — as Labour, the Green Party and Reform UK did here — winners can be elected with the support of fewer than a third of voters, meaning ballots of a majority of people may be effectively unreflected. Both Labour and the Green Party had been urging voters that they were the only realistic option to "stop Reform, " and commentators had noted that at a future general election the Conservatives and Reform UK could similarly urge voters that they were the only choice to "stop Labour. " The broader debate has prompted comparisons with preferential systems: Scottish local elections use the Single Transferable Vote, where voters number candidates and votes can transfer to a second choice in local council by-elections if a first choice has no chance and no candidate has a majority.

Polling day concerns and media coverage of the night

Election observers said they witnessed what they described as "concerningly high" levels of "family voting" at polling stations; that claim was disputed by the council. The night’s coverage was edited by Dulcie Lee, Sam Hancock and Jack Burgess, with political editor Chris Mason in Manchester, and commentators including Adam Fleming, Chris Mason, Alex Forsyth and Joe Pike unpacked the result live as the scale of the Greens' breakthrough became clear.