Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not resign after Labour suffered a shock defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election, describing the result as “very disappointing” but vowing to “keep fighting” for voters.
The Green Party’s Hannah Spencer made history by taking the Manchester seat with 14,980 votes, pushing Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin into second place with 10,578 votes and relegating Labour’s Angeliki Stogia to third with 9,364.
Speaking after visiting local party members in London, the Prime Minister acknowledged the setback and said he understood why voters were “frustrated” and “impatient for change,” but dismissed suggestions he should step down.
Senior Labour figures quickly weighed in. Former deputy leader Angela Rayner wrote on X: “This result must be a wake up call. It’s time to really listen, and to reflect. Voters want the change that we promised, and they voted for. If we want to unrig the system, if we want to make the change we were sent into Government to make, we have to be braver.
“A labour agenda that puts people first. That’s what all of us across our movement need to rededicate ourselves to this morning.” Labour chair Anna Turley called the outcome “clearly disappointing,” adding: “By-elections are normally difficult for the party of government, and this election was no different.”
She said Labour would continue delivering on its programme to tackle the cost of living crisis, create opportunities for young people and invest in public services, insisting: “The politics of anger and easy answers offered by the Greens and Reform won’t deliver this.”
Pressure on Starmer nevertheless intensified. The Labour-affiliated TSSA union’s general secretary, Maryam Eslamdoust, said: “It’s clear that the disastrous lurch to the right under Keir Starmer is haemorrhaging Labour votes to the Greens.
“There’s an urgent need for a change in leadership and Keir must announce his departure immediately.”The Green Party claimed the Prime Minister was “clearly coming to the end of his premiership,” while some betting firms suggested the odds of his resignation before March 6 had shortened significantly.
Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell conceded the Greens had won the argument locally that they were best placed to keep Reform out, but she downplayed wider implications. “Parties of government too often lose by-elections midterm like this,” she said, arguing that a general election would present a clearer binary choice between Labour and Reform. She added: “We’ve got to, of course, take stock, as we always do, and show humility and that we are hearing what people are saying,” while insisting there was “no leadership contest.”
Labour had won the constituency comfortably in 2024 with more than half the vote. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former MP Andrew Gwynne on health grounds, but the result now poses fresh political questions for a government facing mounting pressure from both the Greens and Reform UK.
