We are in a new era of multi-party politics

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This is a parliamentary by-election result for the ages, one that sets the tone for its time.

It is the first by-election gain by the Greens at the 87th time of asking.

Only once before has the party polled above a tenth of the vote let alone gained a seat.

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Hannah Spencer’s 40.7% share of the vote is 27.5 percentage points higher than the party polled at the last general election.

She becomes only the 18th candidate over the last 100 years to take her party from third at the general election to first place at a parliamentary by-election.

Under its new leader Zack Polanski, the party has moved further to the left of British politics, the clearest competitor to Labour in large parts of the country.

For the second successive by-election, following Reform UK’s gain in Runcorn and Helsby in May 2025, a party outside the three parties of Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats has gained a seat.

We are in a new era of multi-party politics.

Crucially, the decision of Workers Party leader George Galloway not to add his party to the eleven-strong ballot, made an impact. At the 2024 contest the Workers Party candidate finished fourth with 10.3%.

Galloway, himself a winner of two by-elections in Bradford West (2012) and Rochdale (2024), instead gave free passage to the Greens to fight a campaign that directly addressed the conflict in the Middle East.

There is no disguising the fact that the result in Gorton and Denton is dreadful for the Labour government as the party fell from first to third place.

In what was Labour’s 38th safest seat – its 36.7% general election majority evaporated.

It becomes the seventh largest Labour majority to be overturned.