Labour holds the seat
Labour's Sagal Abdi-Wali won Thursday's special election in Holborn and St Pancras, the seat vacated by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with 12,292 votes, or 45% of the total. Green leader Zack Polanski received 8,928 votes, just under 33%, according to AP, and The Independent puts Labour's majority at 3,364. Abdi-Wali, leader of Camden Council, came to Britain from Somalia as a child refugee and said she was honored to represent an area that had given her opportunities in life.
For people who look like me, I hope they see themselves reflected in this place and know that their path too belongs here.
Polanski's position and the Zionism motion
Polanski was elected Green leader last year on the understanding that he would seek a seat in the Commons and join the party's five MPs, and leading from outside Parliament poses practical challenges in Britain's parliamentary system. His campaign was overshadowed by the Greens' decision earlier this month to declare Zionism, the political movement for a Jewish homeland, a form of racism. The motion backed a 'single democratic Palestinian state' in the area covered by Israel and the Palestinian territories, and it has divided the party and drawn criticism from most elected Green lawmakers. Israel called the motion antisemitic and barred Polanski, who is Jewish, from entering the country. Polanski missed the vote because he was campaigning, and he told the BBC he would have tried to amend the motion on two grounds.
those amendments fell, and so I would have voted against the motion because I think there are aspects of it that I don't think are okay.
The chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, described the motion as a 'threat to British Jews and to Britain'. Barrister Adam Wagner KC said there was a strong risk the motion, passed at the Greens' annual conference, contravenes the Equality Act 2010.
Calls to stand down
Inside the party, pressure on Polanski grew after the by-election. Vivien Lichtenstein, leader of the Jewish Greens, called for him to resign and said he made a 'big mistake' by missing the debate on the motion. Former leader Caroline Lucas accused him of a failure of leadership, and one senior Green figure told The Independent the situation is 'untenable'. A YouGov survey conducted on Friday found 20 per cent think Polanski should remain leader and 47 per cent said they don't know, while one in three Britons think he should resign. Among those who voted Green in 2024, 47 per cent said he should remain and 22 per cent said he should stand down.
Polanski has said he has no intention of resigning. La Vanguardia notes that Green leadership terms last two years and that he has served one, and that his support in polls, which reached about 20% six months ago, has since been roughly halved.
What it means for Labour
The result is a boost for Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has now beaten both Reform UK and the Greens in by-elections. The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland argues that Burnham's leftward shift persuaded progressive voters that they did not need to vote Green. Psephologist Peter Kellner said the win 'defied history', noting that the average swing against Labour in such contests over the past half-century had been 24%. A February Electoral Calculus MRP model had predicted the Greens would probably gain the seat, which was once one of Labour's safest. The Financial Times framed the result as a major setback for Polanski, while the Greens' post-mortem of their second-place finish is already under way.