Sawt Falasteen - UK Labour party loses heartland parliament seat to left-wing Greens

Labour also finished behind the hard-right, anti-immigration Reform UK party in Thursday's by-election for the Gorton and Denton parliamentary seat in northern Manchester, as the country's traditional two-party system fractures.

The result, in a constituency Labour has dominated for decades, shows how the centre-left party is being squeezed by both ends of the political spectrum, and is likely to fuel speculation about how much longer 63-year-old Starmer can stay in office.

It also suggests that Britons appear more willing to look towards insurgent parties for answers on long-standing, hot-button issues like the high cost of living and irregular immigration.

Shortly after the result was announced early Friday, Green leader Zack Polanski told volunteers the party was "here to replace" Labour.

This "is what replacing looks like," added Polanski, a charismatic figurehead some liken to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and who only took charge of the Greens last September.

Ex-deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the result "must be a wake-up call".

"If we want to make the change we were sent into government to make, we have to be braver," the Manchester MP added.

- 'Threat' -

Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber, won the Gorton and Denton seat comfortably to become the Greens' fifth sitting MP in the 650-seat British parliament.

"We defeated the parties of billionaire donors," she told jubilant supporters.

The contest was triggered by ex-lawmaker Andrew Gwynne resigning on health grounds.

Labour had won the July 2024 general election in a landslide, sweeping Starmer to power and ousting the Conservatives after 14 years in office.

But his government has since been beset by policy reversals, resignations and rows, including over the appointment of Peter Mandelson, an associate of late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain's ambassador to Washington.

Polls suggest Starmer is now the most unpopular British prime minister since surveys began, and earlier this month he faced down calls from within his own party to resign.

The next general election is not expected until 2029, but the defeat will intensify pressure on him ahead of May local elections, when the party is predicted to also perform poorly.

University of Manchester politics lecturer Louise Thompson said it showed Starmer must now "fight a war on two fronts".

"Whereas previously he's focused in a much more laser-like way on Reform... Labour will need to take the Green threat much more seriously," she told AFP.

- 'Values' -

The Greens had never won a parliamentary by-election before, and ran a grassroots campaign that sought to mobilise the constituency's 28 percent Muslim population.

The party, which under Polanski has embraced a full-throated left-wing agenda including higher taxes on the wealthy, is avowedly pro-Palestinian.

In a likely harbinger for upcoming elections, its campaign was less focused on environmental concerns -- the party's traditional rallying cry -- and more concerned with cost-of-living pressures and other issues.

The result was a blow for Brexit champion Nigel Farage, whose Reform party has led national polls for the past year. He called it "a victory for sectarian voting".

"Roll on the (local) elections on May 7th," Farage added. "It will be goodbye Starmer and goodbye to the Tory party."

Starmer has spent much of his time in office targeting Reform, in particular by toughening Labour's immigration policies and rhetoric.

But the stance appears to be alienating elements of the party's left-wing base and young people.

Andrea Egan, the new leftist leader of the traditionally Labour-supporting UNISON union, said the Greens had won "because Labour under Starmer has abandoned progressive values, imitating the far-right instead of taking the fight to them".

"If the government wants to survive it urgently needs to stand up for workers and defend the fundamental values of our movement," she added on X.

N.Awad--SF-PST