Green surge shakes Labour’s northern bastion after by-election win

Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber, won the Gorton and Denton by-election, moving the Greens into five MPs and dealing a setback to Labour in its traditional northern stronghold. The surprise result challenges Labour’s strategy of courting Reform UK voters to counter the Greens, and signals a shifting local political landscape ahead of May local elections. Analysts say Labour faces a two-front battle as the Greens capitalize on cost-of-living discontent and broaden outreach to ethnic-minority communities.