Reeling Starmer Says He Will ‘Fight On’ After By-Election Humiliation at Hands of Greens
The result of the Gorton and Denton by-election in February 2026 delivered a serious political shock to the British Labour Party and created fresh questions about the leadership of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. In a constituency that Labour had historically regarded as a safe seat, the party finished a humiliating third behind the Green Party and Reform UK. The result was particularly damaging because it demonstrated that Labour was facing pressure from both sides of the political spectrum. While Reform UK continued to attract voters dissatisfied with the political establishment, the Green Party successfully captured support from progressive voters who might previously have been expected to vote Labour.
Despite the setback, Starmer refused to resign and insisted that he would “keep on fighting”. He acknowledged that the result was “very disappointing” but argued that voters were frustrated and impatient for change. His response reflected his determination to remain prime minister and continue pursuing his political programme. Starmer also attempted to present Labour as the only party capable of defeating what he described as political extremes on both the left and right.
The scale of Labour’s defeat, however, made it difficult for the party leadership to dismiss the result as an ordinary mid-term protest. The Green Party won the seat with 14,980 votes, while Reform UK came second with 10,578. Labour received only 9,364 votes. The Greens therefore secured a majority of 4,402 votes over Reform, while Labour was pushed into third place. Turnout was 47.6 per cent, broadly similar to the turnout at the 2024 general election.
For the Greens, the victory was historic. It represented the party’s first-ever win in a Westminster parliamentary by-election and its first parliamentary seat in the north of England. Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber and Trafford councillor, became the Green Party’s newest MP. Her victory provided the party with an important psychological boost and suggested that its growing support was not necessarily limited to traditionally environmentally focused voters.
Spencer argued after the result that there was a strong appetite for political change. Green Party leader Zack Polanski described the victory as evidence that his party could compete beyond its traditional strongholds. The Greens presented the result as a rejection of the established political parties and an indication that voters were increasingly willing to support alternatives.
For Starmer, the defeat was especially uncomfortable because Labour had originally expected the contest to be primarily a battle against Reform UK. Before the election, Starmer had described Gorton and Denton as essentially a contest between Labour and Reform, arguing that Labour was the only party capable of defeating Nigel Farage’s movement. He portrayed Reform as a source of divisive politics and attempted to frame the election as a choice between Labour’s inclusive approach and Reform’s nationalism.
The final result demonstrated the danger of that strategy. Instead of Labour defeating Reform, the Greens overtook both parties. This suggested that Starmer’s political challenge was broader than simply containing the rise of the populist right. Labour was also losing support among voters who wanted a more left-wing or radical political alternative.
This development immediately intensified pressure from within the Labour movement. Former deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the result should be treated as a “wake-up call”. She argued that Labour needed to listen more carefully to voters and “be braver” in promoting an agenda that put ordinary people first. Her intervention was significant because Rayner remained an influential figure on Labour’s left and had strong connections with trade unions and grassroots activists.
Other Labour figures were even more critical. Norwich South MP Clive Lewis described the result as a “punch in the face” for Labour and Starmer. He argued that the party needed a fundamental change in direction and warned that Labour could lose support for a generation if it failed to reconnect with its traditional voters. Trade union leaders also called for a change of course. Some demanded that Starmer resign, while others urged the government to abandon policies they believed had moved Labour too far away from its traditional values.
The debate over Labour’s direction is not simply a disagreement about personalities. It reflects a deeper argument about what modern Labour should represent. Starmer has attempted to make the party electorally broad, economically credible and capable of governing from the centre. His supporters argue that Labour must appeal to moderate voters if it wants to maintain power. They believe that moving sharply to the left could alienate voters who helped Labour win the 2024 general election.
Critics within Labour take a different view. They argue that the party’s traditional supporters expect stronger action on public services, inequality, workers’ rights, housing and the cost of living. From this perspective, the Green victory in Gorton and Denton was a warning that voters who consider themselves progressive may simply choose another party if Labour does not offer sufficiently ambitious policies.
Angela Rayner’s response therefore carries particular political significance. Her call for Labour to “rededicate” itself to a people-focused Labour agenda reflects the concerns of members and activists who believe the party has become too cautious. At the same time, Rayner’s intervention has inevitably encouraged speculation about the future of Starmer’s leadership. Her criticism has made her one of the most prominent voices arguing that Labour must change direction after the by-election defeat.
Starmer, however, has rejected the idea that the solution is to move towards the political extremes. He argued that Labour must fight both the right-wing populism represented by Reform and the left-wing politics represented by the Greens. His message was that voters frustrated with the government should not conclude that abandoning Labour is the answer. Instead, he presented Labour as the party capable of bringing different communities together.
This argument illustrates the difficult political position in which Starmer now finds himself. If Labour moves significantly to the left, it risks losing moderate voters and creating opportunities for Reform. If it remains close to the political centre, however, it risks losing progressive voters to the Greens and other parties. The Gorton and Denton result demonstrates that both dangers are real.
There is also an important question about whether a by-election should be interpreted as a prediction of a general election. Starmer has argued that the Greens may have succeeded because a by-election provides smaller parties with an opportunity to concentrate resources, activists and campaigners in one constituency. He compared the situation with previous mid-term by-election victories by smaller parties, arguing that success in one constituency does not necessarily translate into national electoral strength.
Nevertheless, the result cannot simply be ignored. Political parties often use by-elections as indicators of public dissatisfaction, and the scale of Labour’s decline makes this particular result important. Losing a historically secure seat while finishing behind both the Greens and Reform sends a clear warning that Labour’s electoral coalition is under pressure.
The Greens, meanwhile, will attempt to turn their victory into a wider political movement. Polanski argued that the result showed there were no areas where the Green Party should be regarded as incapable of winning. The party has already identified issues such as the cost of living, environmental policy and the conflict in Gaza as important factors in its appeal.
For Reform UK, finishing second was also a significant achievement. Although the party failed to win, it demonstrated that it could challenge Labour strongly in an urban constituency. Nigel Farage’s party is therefore putting pressure on Labour from another direction, particularly among voters concerned about immigration, national identity and dissatisfaction with established political parties.
The future of Starmer’s leadership will ultimately depend not on one by-election alone but on whether Labour can respond effectively to these competing pressures. His decision to “fight on” signals that he has no intention of allowing one defeat to determine his political future. Yet the demands from Rayner and other Labour figures indicate that simply continuing without significant changes may not satisfy the party’s critics.
In conclusion, the Gorton and Denton by-election was much more than a local political contest. It became a warning about the increasingly fragmented nature of British politics. Labour was squeezed between Reform UK on the right and the Green Party on the left, while Starmer faced renewed internal pressure to change direction. His promise to keep fighting demonstrates resilience, but the result has made the political challenge facing his government considerably clearer.
For Labour, the central question is now how to reconnect with voters without abandoning the broader coalition that brought it to power. For Starmer, the challenge is to prove that his centrist approach can deliver meaningful change. And for Angela Rayner and the Labour left, the question is whether the party can be persuaded to adopt a more ambitious programme. The Gorton and Denton result has therefore opened a new chapter in the struggle over Labour’s identity and Britain’s political future.