Labour Win Holborn and St Pancras By-Election
Camden council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali held the Holborn and St Pancras seat (Alamy)
2 min read
Labour has retained the Holborn and St Pancras seat and dealt a major blow to Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
Camden council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali won the North London seat, with the Green Party coming second.
Labour won 45 per cent of the vote – a total of 12,292 – with the party's majority falling from 11,572 in 2024 to 3,364.
Polanski, who stood as the Green Party candidate, received 8,928 votes, equivalent to 33 per cent of the vote.
The Conservatives came third with just 1,922 votes.
The by-election, which was triggered after former prime minister Keir Starmer vacated the seat, was a key test for new leader Andy Burnham, whose leadership has seen Labour boosted in the polls.
Speaking after her victory, Abdi-Wali said: "I hope this moment also says something about who gets to belong, for people who look like me, I hope they see themselves reflected in this place and know that their path too belongs here. This is Camden, and this is Britain."
"That is what this victory represents. Winning not by making people afraid of each other, but by bringing people together."
The by-election comes after Green Party members voted at their conference in Brighton for the controversial "Zionism is racism" motion, which is now party policy. Four of the party's five MPs had spoken out publicly against the motion before the vote.
Speaking to broadcasters after the result was announced, Polanski said that while he had lost, the Green movement "is so much bigger than one election or one motion."
On the motion, Polanski said that "nobody will be excluded in the Green Party based on faith and religion".
