Sir Keir Starmer is under renewed pressure after the Green Party won the Gorton and Denton by-election, overturning a 13,413 Labour majority.
Hannah Spencer secured 14,980 votes — a majority of 4,402 — becoming the Greens’ fifth MP.
Reform’s Matthew Goodwin won 10,578 votes, while Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia finished third with 9,364 votes, 25.4 per cent, down from 50.8 per cent at the 2024 general election.
Democracy Volunteers said it observed “concerningly high levels of family voting”. Nigel Farage said this “raises serious questions about the integrity of the democratic process in predominantly Muslim areas” and described the result as a “victory for sectarian voting and cheating”.
In her victory speech, Ms Spencer criticised “politicians and divisive figures who constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all the problems in society”.
She said: “People in their thousands told me on the doorsteps and at the ballot box that what we are sick of is being let down and looked down on, that we are sick of our hard work making other people rich.”
On the eve of polling, Sir Keir described the contest as a battle “for the soul of the nation”, calling it “a fight between people like me who want to fix Britain’s problems and bring communities together. And between people like Nigel Farage who only want to spread hate and grievance”.