Labour retained the Holborn and St Pancras seat in a north London by-election, but with a sharply reduced majority that signals growing Green Party strength in the constituency.
Camden council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali secured 45% of the vote for Labour, defeating Green Party leader Zack Polanski on 33%. Labour's majority fell from 11,572 to 3,364. The by-election was triggered after former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stepped down as an MP.
Abdi-Wali, who arrived in the UK as a child refugee from Somalia, told supporters: "People voted for hope and now we're going to be able to deliver for them." She pledged to campaign on ending homelessness and taking Thames Water into public ownership.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham congratulated Abdi-Wali on a "fantastic campaign". Sir Keir Starmer called her "a brilliant champion for our communities".
The Green Party's vote share surged 22 percentage points compared to the 2024 general election, despite losing the seat. Polanski said the result proved the Greens were "more of an electoral threat in these seats than we've ever been before" and described it as "our second best by-election result in Green Party history". He vowed to remain as party leader.
Holborn and St Pancras has voted Labour continuously since the constituency was created in 1983, with the party taking at least 40% at every general election. The by-election had been framed as a test of Labour's ability to retain voters who switched to the Greens.
Polanski faces internal pressure over his handling of a motion passed at the Green Party conference declaring Zionism a form of racism. He left the conference early to campaign in the by-election and did not vote on the motion. Former Green leader Caroline Lucas told the BBC he "failed to show leadership" on the issue and called for him to speak publicly about what happened. Polanski dismissed suggestions his leadership was under threat.