Left-wing plumber helps Greens sink ruling Labour and far-right in surprise U.K. election win

LONDON — Britain’s embattled government has spent much of its time in power worrying about the rise of the far right. Instead, he simply received a gut punch from the progressive left.

The Green Party dealt Prime Minister Keir Starmer a blow early Friday by winning a hotly contested special election in the northern city of Manchester.

The vote in the Gorton and Denton constituency was seen as a three-way fight between the Greens, the rising far-right Reform UK party led by Trump ally Nigel Farage, and Starmer’s ruling centre-left Labor Party, which has long dominated politics in the region.

As it happens, it was a comfortable victory for Green candidate Hannah Spencer, 34, who becomes the party’s fifth MP and one of 650 lawmakers in the UK’s lower house.

Spencer was a plumber before entering politics, a sign of the appeal now held by insurgents on both sides of the political spectrum in a country where wages are stagnant, public services are struggling and years of government scandals have eroded trust in institutions.

Starmer’s position has been under scrutiny for months, but recent revelations linked to the Epstein scandal have significantly weakened it.

Enter the “eco-populist” Greens, who want to radically overhaul the British energy system, tax the wealth of multimillionaires, dismantle its nuclear weapons program and reverse its policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Be patient, because it’s a lot,” the victorious Spencer told the crowd in her North Mancun drawl as she realized the gravity of the result. For people “who feel left behind and isolated,” she said, “I see you and I will fight for you.”

She explained that she never wanted to be a politician and apologized to everyone who booked her plumbing services.

“I am no different from every person here in this riding,” she said. “Before, working hard to get something. It got you a house, a good life, a vacation, it got you somewhere. But now, working hard, what does that get you?”

It was billed as a three-way race, but it actually wasn’t that close. Spencer received 14,980 votes, compared to Reform’s Matthew Goodwin with 10,578 and Labor’s Angeliki Stogia with 9,364.

This result increases pressure on Starmer, the least popular Prime Minister since records began, according to some polls. Even his longtime supporters are dismayed by what they see as his inability to communicate a coherent message to a stagnant nation.

Acknowledging it was a “disappointing” result and that voters were “frustrated”, Starmer told reporters he would continue. Asked if he had considered resigning, he replied: “I entered politics late in life to fight for change for those who need it. He added that he would “continue to fight for these people as long as I have breath in my body.”

Labor “seemed almost paralyzed in its ability to present a way forward on important issues”, said Scott Lucas, professor of politics at University College Dublin.

The election is also complicating the broader narrative in the United Kingdom and even Europe, where nationalist populists backed by the Trump administration are on the rise.

The Greens have exploited widespread anger over rising prices and the cost of living, but rather than blaming immigrants, they have directed their anger at the very rich.

“The message of giving people a better economic future can resonate; it can cut through the white noise that defines much of our politics,” Lucas said.

The local demographics are largely divided between working-class neighborhoods, students and Muslim residents. Many of the latter two groups feel disappointed by the leadership of Starmer’s government, particularly by what they see as an inadequate response to the Israeli attack on Gaza.

In his defeat, Goodwin symbolized his party’s anti-immigration and anti-Islam agenda, declaring in a statement that “we are losing our country” and that “a dangerous Muslim bigotry has emerged.”

Spencer condemned this approach after his victory.

“I will not accept this victory tonight without calling out the divisive politicians and figures who constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all of society’s problems,” she said. “My Muslim friends and neighbors are like me: human. »

Reform still remains a national force ahead of the next national elections scheduled for 2029 and has led all major opinion polls for the past 10 months.

However, their current average rate of 28% would not give them enough power to govern alone and they would likely have to form a coalition government.

The Greens’ clear victory also reinforces the left-wing threat to Britain’s traditional ruling parties.

Green leader Zack Polanski is seen by many experts as a political figure likely to rival Farage’s popular appeal.

“People around the world will now know that voting Green is the way to defeat the Reformed,” he said in a victory declaration.