(Adnkronos) – Polls are open in Greater Manchester, in the southeastern constituency of Gorton and Denton, crucial by-elections with an uncertain outcome, considered an uphill test of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ability to survive in Downing Street after the arrest of Peter Mandelson, the “prince of darkness” friend of Jeffrey Epstein whom the Labour leader had appointed ambassador to Washington. The traditionally Labour city now hosts, in a constituency divided between a multi-ethnic half of students and graduates and one of white working-class people, a challenge between the three most prominent candidates, from Labour, UK Reform, and the Greens. The polls, open since seven this morning, will close at 10 PM.
Green leader Zack Polanski, who is not a candidate despite growing up in Manchester, claims his party is “neck and neck” with Reform UK to overtake Labour, which, in the event of a victory for the far-right populist party, “will have to do some serious soul-searching,” he said, accusing Labour of deliberately trying to divide the left.
Starmer argues that “a vote for the Greens is effectively a vote for Reform,” even after the populist candidate won in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency last May by a margin of six votes, precisely because of the split on the left. Labour is eight points behind Reform in national polls, with the Greens on the rise. The Prime Prime Minister, visiting Manchester on Monday in an attempt to win votes from the far-right, directly attacked the Greens, claiming their project for drug liberalization was “disgusting,” the first step towards transforming public parks into “havens for crack dealers.”
In 2024, Labour had won by a margin of 13,413 in Gorton and Denton, where almost 80 percent of voters had supported the left-wing candidate. For Labour, local councillor Angeliki Stogia is standing; for Reform, there is former academic turned journalist Matt Goodwin; and for the Greens, plumber Hannah Spencer. The by-election became necessary after Andrew Gwynne’s resignation in January: he cited health reasons but was under parliamentary investigation for offensive messages he had sent in WhatsApp groups to local Labour figures.
