Holborn
and St Pancras byelection loss will disappoint Greens – but there may also be
relief
Peter WalkerSenior
political correspondent
It may
sound odd to think Zack Polanski would be happy with second place, but after
his most challenging week in politics, it could have been worse
Fri 9 Oct
2026 07.40 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/09/holborn-st-pancras-byelection-greens-zack-polanski
Parliamentary
byelections can generate all sorts of emotional responses, often very strong
ones. But for the main contenders in Holborn and St Pancras, the feeling this
morning might be more prosaic: relief.
For
Labour, Sagal
Abdi-Wali’s victory with just over 45% of the total vote was widely
expected, but it allows the party to credibly claim Andy Burnham as a
politician able to reach people in both Reform-leaning areas such
as Makerfield and in Green-friendly inner cities.
Retaining
a constituency formerly held by your last leader, Keir Starmer, and which has
been overwhelmingly Labour
since it was created in 1983, is in normal political times not that notable an
achievement, but these are not normal times.
A low
turnout of 38.7% and Abdi-Wali’s numerically modest 3,364 majority that
resulted might not appear the greatest endorsement of the government, but it is
also likely to have been in part due to the widespread assumption that Labour
would win.
And what
of the Greens, and particularly Zack Polanski,
the party’s leader in England and Wales, who decided to go for the high-profile
seat himself? Again, it may sound curious to think he would be happy with
second place, but after the most challenging week of his political life, it
could have been worse.
Polanski
got just under 33% of the vote, well above anyone else apart from Abdi-Wali, a
proportion which shows that in an another election, and up against a Labour
party not enjoying a Burnham bounce, the Greens could still be highly
competitive in seats like these.
When
Polanski said he wanted to stand, the hope was for another wave of enthusiasm
and publicity of the sort that propelled Hannah Spencer to
victory in February in another supposedly safe Labour seat, Gorton and
Denton.
He will
nonetheless be quietly pleased that the result does not seem to have shown much
of a shedding of Green votes after criticisms
of, and deep divisions in, the party since it adopted a highly
controversial policy
on Zionism and Israel last weekend.
Polanski
after the count in north London on Friday. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA
The new
policy, decided by members at the Greens’ annual conference, equates Zionism,
the movement for a Jewish state, with racism, and calls for Israel to be
replaced by a single Palestinian state. It is publicly opposed by four of the
party’s five MPs, with numerous councillors distancing themselves as well and a
handful resigning.
Polanski’s
decision to not take a side, and even to absent himself from Sunday’s debate so
he could campaign in the byelection, has prompted deep unease among some
Greens, who termed it a failure of leadership. It was notable that after the
result, Polanski had to state that he intended to stay as Green leader. “Yes
absolutely, that’s what leaders do,” he said.
While
some in the Greens had questioned Polanski’s decision to contest a seat in
north London, rather than
east London, where he lives, his allies make the point that Nigel Farage took
eight tries to become an MP.
Either
way, the result has not made Polanski’s position any worse. Had the Green vote
collapsed he would have been under very intense pressure. As it stands, he must
try to reassure sceptics in the party before seeking re-election in a year from
now, under the party’s policy of two-year terms for leaders.
And what
of the others? The Conservatives will be quietly happy with beating Reform UK
to take third place, their 7.1% being almost exactly the same proportion of
votes as they took in 2024. This might not seem like much of an achievement,
but the party’s national poll ratings remain stubbornly below 2024 levels, and
thus stasis will most likely be claimed as more evidence of a Badenoch bounce.
Down in
fifth place, the emotions are different. While they are byelection specialists,
the Liberal Democrats were never going to win here, but they had put in at
least some effort to boost their vote, with MPs going out this week to knock on
doors. Coming behind Reform on just over 3% of the vote will be a
disappointment.
Amid the
noisy debates over the leadership of Labour, the Tories and Greens, it can be
easy to overlook the disquiet
among some of Ed Davey’s MPs that the Lib Dems do not appear to be cutting
through. He will not be feeling relief this morning.
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