2026 Gorton and Denton by-election

26 February 2026
Gorton and Denton constituency
Turnout47.6% (Decrease 0.2 pp)
 
Candidate Hannah Spencer Matt Goodwin Angeliki Stogia
Party Green Reform UK Labour
Popular vote 14,980 10,578 9,364
Percentage 40.7% 28.7% 25.4%
Boundary of Gorton and Denton in North West England
MP before election

Andrew Gwynne
Independent[a]

 Elected MP

Hannah Spencer
Green

A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Gorton and Denton was held on 26 February 2026. It was caused by the resignation of Andrew Gwynne. Many commentators saw the election as a three-way race between Labour, the Green Party and Reform UK. It was the Green Party’s first parliamentary by-election victory in its history.[1]

Background

Andy Burnham, the incumbent mayor of Greater Manchester, applied to be the Labour Party candidate, but his candidacy was controversially blocked by the Labour Party because they were worried if elected he would challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.[2][3]

Results

Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer won the by-election by a majority of 4,402. She became the Green Party's fifth MP and first in the North of England.[4][5] This was also the first ever parliamentary by-election win for the Greens.[6]

The result was the sixth largest Labour majority to be flip at a by-election since World War II.[7] It was the Greens' first ever Parliamentary by-election victory and the highest vote share they have ever received in such a by-election.[1]

Opinion polls

Date(s)
conducted		 Pollster Client Sample
size		 Labour Reform Green Workers Cons Lib Dem OMRLP Advance Rejoin EU LPUK SDP Comm. League Lead
26 Feb 2026 2026 by-election 25.4% 28.7% 40.7% N/A 1.9% 1.8% 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% 12
16–24 Feb 2026 Opinium[8] Byline Times/Forward Democracy 401[b] 28% 27% 28% N/A 6% 4% 1% 2% 2% 1% 0% —[c] Tie
13–19 Feb 2026 Omnisis[9] Opal Ltd 452[d] 26% 29% 33% N/A 5% 2% 0% 0% 3% 1% 1% 0% 4
3 Feb 2026 List of candidates published for by-election
25–27 Jan 2026 Find Out Now[10] Betterworld Ltd 143[e] 33% 36% 21% — 8% 3% —[c] 3
4 Jul 2024 2024 general election 50.8% 14.1% 13.2% 10.3% 7.9% 3.8% N/A 36.7

Notes

  1. ↑ Although elected for Labour in 2024, Gwynne was sitting as an independent MP at the time of his resignation.
  2. ↑ Excluding those who would not vote or answered "Don't know", there were 339 respondents who gave an answer.
  3. 1 2 Party not reported in poll
  4. ↑ Excluding those who would not vote or answered "Don't know", there were 271 respondents who gave an answer.
  5. ↑ Excluding those who would not vote or answered "Don't know", there were 51 respondents who gave an answer.

References

  1. 1 2 Jones, Ian; Davison, Tamara (27 February 2026). "Greens make history at Gorton and Denton: Key numbers and milestones". The Standard. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  2. ↑ Cooke, Millie (2026-02-27). "Gorton and Denton result live: Hannah Spencer wins by-election for Greens as Starmer's Labour plunged into crisis". The Independent. Retrieved 2026-02-27.
  3. ↑ Lawson, Neal (2026-02-27). "Andy Burnham could have won Gorton and Denton". New Statesman. Retrieved 2026-02-27.
  4. ↑ "Parliamentary Gorton and Denton by-election – 26 February 2026". Manchester City Council. 27 February 2026. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  5. ↑ McKiernan, Jennifer (27 February 2026). "Green Party wins Gorton and Denton by-election, pushing Labour into third place". BBC News. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  6. ↑ Cooke, Millie (2026-02-27). "Gorton and Denton result live: Hannah Spencer wins by-election for Greens as Starmer's Labour plunged into crisis". The Independent. Retrieved 2026-02-27.
  7. ↑ "Green Party's Hannah Spencer elected as new Gorton and Denton MP in by-election". ITV News. 27 February 2026. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  8. ↑ "Gorton and Denton constituency poll". Opinium. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
  9. ↑ "Constituency Polling for by-election in Gorton and Denton". Omnisis. 20 February 2026. Retrieved 20 February 2026.
  10. ↑ "Gorton and Denton by-election poll". Find Out Now. 29 January 2026. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.