Politics
Holborn and St Pancras By‑Election Puts Labour’s Future in the Balance
London voters went to the polls on Thursday for a by‑election in the Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary seat. The contest follows the resignation of former Prime Minister Keir Starmer and tests whether Labour, now led by Andy Burnham, can regain support after a decline in popularity among left‑wing voters amid the Gaza war. Labour has held the seat continuously since its creation in 1983. The election is widely seen as a two‑horse race between Labour and the Green Party, whose leader Zack Polanski, a 43‑year‑old eco‑populist, is a candidate. Polanski’s Greens have gained ground in London, contributing to Labour’s poor local election results in May and setting the stage for Starmer’s resignation on 20 July and Burnham’s succession. Burnham has adopted a tougher stance on Israel and is offering a more left‑wing vision for the UK to counter the Greens’ momentum. Polanski faces Labour’s Sagal Abdi‑Wali, a local council leader who arrived in Britain as a child refugee from Somalia in the 1990s and is expected to win. Polls closed at 10 pm local time (21:00 GMT) and the result was expected to be announced in the early hours of Friday. Other candidates included Barmy Brunch of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party; Ewan Cameron of the Conservative Party; independent Tom Darwood; Clare Fischer of the Climate Party; George Galloway of the Workers Party; Tyler Johnson of Restore Britain; Briony Anne Lonbay Kapoor of Rejoin EU; Peter Newman of Reform UK; Ketankumar Pipaliya of UK VOICE; Jonathan Silberman of the Communist League; Helen Spiby‑Vann of the Christian Peoples Alliance; Patrick Thomas Stillman of the Liberal Democrats; and Ben Walker of UKIP.