The Labour candidate, Sagal Abdi-wali, won the by-election in the Holborn and St Pancras constituency, defeating Green Party leader Zack Polanski and thus retaining the seat for Labour. Abdi-wali received 12,292 votes, while Polanski secured 8,928 votes.
The by-election was triggered after the Prime Minister resigned in September. The election was seen as a contest between the Labour candidate and the Green Party leader. The Conservative, Ewan Cameron, came third with 1,922 votes, and George Galloway received 314 votes. The candidates gathered in the counting hall at Camden Council’s headquarters in north London.
Turnout was 38.7 per cent, the lowest for any by-election in England in this parliament and 15.4 percentage points lower than in 2024. In the 2024 general election, Starer had secured a majority of 11,572 votes for Labour in that constituency, with the left-wing independent candidate second.
The Green Party acknowledged defeat immediately before the results were announced. “It is clear now that we will be second in this by-election,” the party’s spokesperson said. Adding that voters wanted the Green Party to “keep Labour on its toes” on issues such as affordable housing, public ownership of water, and the climate crisis, they stated that “the Greens will be there every day, holding Labour to account and demanding the change people voted for.”
The victory was a relief for the Prime Minister in his first major test. Labour had campaigned intensively, fielding a 42-year-old candidate. Abdi-wali had arrived in London in the early 1990s, without speaking English, after fleeing war in Somalia with four brothers and a mother who had been trained as a lawyer in Somalia. In a message to voters before the election, the Prime Minister said: “This area has given Sagal a home when she arrived here as a refugee in the 1990s. Camden has given Sagal and her family hope. Now she wants to give back to the communities that have supported her. It is hard to imagine anyone more dedicated to their local area and to caring for people than Sagal.”
In her victory speech, Abdi-wali said: “I promise to work every day to do everything I can and all that is in my power to improve your lives.” Adding, “This moment means something deeply personal to me – representing the place that gave a home to me and my family, gave me opportunity and helped shape the person I am today.” She highlighted that: “Camden has given me a community and instilled in me a belief in social justice, equality and fairness.”
“Having the privilege of representing this same community in parliament is something I will carry with great pride and humility,” said Abdi-wali. “I hope this moment speaks to who is allowed to belong. For people who look like me, I hope they see themselves reflected in this place and know that their place is here.”
Polanski’s defeat capped a difficult week for his party, which had fallen into disarray after a vote on Sunday approved a policy equating Zionism with racism. The resolution passed by the Green Party members at the party conference, despite the opposition of four of their MPs. The resolution stated that Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, should be “treated in the same way as any other form of racism” and called for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state.
The leader of the Jewish Greens condemned the resolution, stating she might leave the party, although some members of the Jewish Greens supported it. Even members who supported parts of the resolution were unhappy with its narrow definition of Zionism. Polanski, who had not voted, left some members frustrated at his lack of leadership; at the time, he was campaigning in his constituency.
The former leader of the Green Party told BBC Newsnight that Polanski had made a “mistake in not showing leadership” over the vote on the policy on Zionism. “He should have been there and he should have voted,” said Lucas. “I expected him to be a very critical critic of that proposal, because the proposal, in my view, was flawed from start to finish.” Lucas said she expected Polanski to face criticism from colleagues in the Green Party. On whether Polanski should step down, she said: “I think we will see what happens in the coming days and weeks... he was clearly preoccupied with this by-election.” Adding, “I want him to speak out about what has happened, I want him to show leadership that was lacking on Sunday. I think it is uncertain whether he will do so, but I hope he does.”
Activists in Camden suggested that the Green Party’s decision to support the anti-Zionist resolution had led to a loss of votes in the by-election. Councillors from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats told the Press Association that voters had told them they would not support the Green Party after it passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism last weekend. One councillor said people were “clearly angry” about the issue during conversations on the ground.
The Green Party had campaigned strongly, with thousands of members knocking on doors in the constituency, even before Polanski was chosen as the party’s candidate. The party’s polling and Polanski’s personal approval ratings had already fallen in recent months, following the peak in popularity last summer. The party had achieved a major victory in the by-election in Gorton and Denton in February, and in the local elections in May, it had won some seats on the council from Labour.
