Esther Rantzen Warns of ‘Sabotage’ as Greens Take Gorton and Denton in Historic Win
The Green Party’s breakthrough victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election and the likely collapse of an assisted dying bill in the House of Lords have crystallised tensions across Westminster. esther rantzen has accused some peers of "blatant sabotage" as campaigners say amendments have so delayed debate that the bill cannot clear the current parliamentary session.
Hannah Spencer wins Gorton and Denton
Hannah Spencer has been elected MP for Gorton and Denton, marking the Green Party’s first ever by-election win and taking a seat that had been one of Labour’s safest. Spencer finished more than 4, 000 votes ahead of her nearest rival, with Reform in second place and Labour relegated to third.
Sam Coates and Beth Rigby on the voting shift
Deputy political editor Sam Coates described the result as evidence that the Labour vote has been "cannibalised by the Greens. " Political editor Beth Rigby called the outcome "a seismic moment, " noting that of the 97 by-elections the Greens have contested they had never previously exceeded 10% of the vote until this contest. Rigby highlighted that the Greens and Reform together took about 70% of the vote while the two traditional parties accounted for roughly 27%, and that turnout was high for a by-election.
Hannah Spencer’s campaign message
Observers noted Spencer focused less on environmental policy and more on left-wing themes that echo the politics that once drew support to Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, emphasising contrasts between ordinary people and billionaires. Rigby said the combination of a "Polanski surge" and a Green surge presents a major strategic problem for Labour, squeezed on the left by the Greens and on the right by Reform.
Labour reaction and union pressure ahead of May local elections
Party figures were said to have been "pretty confident" before the count, but the third-place finish has prompted immediate recriminations and criticism from the left. Unions are described as "angry" and are calling for a major rethink ahead of local elections in May. Rigby characterised the result as a "gut punch" for Labour, and said Sir Keir Starmer was expected to remark that the result was disappointing while urging restraint in drawing broader conclusions.
House of Lords amendments stall assisted dying bill
The assisted dying bill, which would allow terminally ill people with less than six months to live to seek assistance to die, passed the House of Commons but has struggled in the House of Lords. A small number of opponents in the Lords laid down so many amendments that there are now fewer than six days of debate left and the legislation is unlikely to be voted on in time to clear the parliamentary session that ends in May.
Kim Leadbeater, Charles Falconer and possible Parliament Act route
The bill was introduced by backbench MP Kim Leadbeater and had the backing of a Commons majority, though it did not have government sponsorship and was permitted as a free vote by No 10. Backers, including Leadbeater and Charles Falconer, have sought legal and constitutional advice about invoking an archaic procedure next session to force the measure through if peers continue to block it. That would involve attempting to use the 1911 Parliament Act for a private member’s bill for the first time; the act was revised in 1949 and has been used only a handful of times since, to enact laws without Lords consent such as decriminalising homosexuality and banning foxhunting.
Esther Rantzen accuses peers of 'blatant sabotage'
Dame Esther Rantzen publicly accused some peers of "blatant sabotage" and spoke about the issue on Sky News on Thursday. Supporters of the bill argue it is undemocratic for the Lords to effectively block legislation that passed the Commons, while opponents in the Lords say they are ensuring sufficient scrutiny of a bill that was not part of the Labour manifesto and did not have government sponsorship.
Roy Kennedy, the Labour whip in the House of Lords, told a parliamentary committee that the government would not allocate extra time because of a limited number of sitting Fridays remaining. Extending the parliamentary session to help the bill would be an extraordinary step, and after the session ends the bill would need to be reintroduced and passed again in the new session for the Parliament Act override mechanism to be triggered. There are two routes to that mechanism: a supporter adopting it at the next private member’s bill ballot or the government giving the measure time to return to the Commons.
What makes this notable is that both episodes illustrate competing strains in Westminster: rising third-party momentum that can unseat safe seats, and procedural resistance in the Lords that can halt contentious social legislation, each producing immediate political consequences for major parties and campaigners alike.
