Today's by-election... how do you think it will go?

[Westfacing]

A few months back according to the media it was Reform's for the taking - now it's a three-way bet between Labour, Greens and Reform

Hopefully not. We've had the Greens in a power sharing Govt and their contempt for women is scary.

I hope this will encourage more people to vote tactically in May.

It was very close between con/lab/ref so unfortunately prime for a Reform win.

This is the kind of language that encourages support for the green.

People call out those who call reform supporters racists etc. People also need calling out for calling Green supports lunatics. It's not on.

Yep, makes me what to support them more. Long term Labour voter here and l’m 62. They don’t strike me as rabble. They seem much more eloquent and cultured than Reform.

It's absolutely accurate though. If you want to see the Greens in action, look up here. They are utter lunatics and you hsve to question why anyone would vote for them. Maggie Chapman is an especially interesting character. That's what people are voting for when they vote Green.

Conservatives were never expected to get much of the vote so Conservatives are not concerned by this. Charlotte is an excellent campaigner for women’s rights.

I am more concerned about this disgraceful practice that has no place in our precious democracy 👇
https://x.com/samcoatessky/status/2027142542685311359?s=46

People appear to believe that all constituencies are the same. They very much are not.

The ethnic make up of Gorton and Denton means that a right of centre party could never win there. I think it was about 500th out of 600+ in the list of most likely right of centre targets ie never going to happen.

The May elections which are of course spread out over a far greater part of the country will almost inevitably be a very different looking result albeit equally devastating for Labour.

The problem Labour has now is the Muslim vote has deserted them and the Greens are now the de facto Islamic party of choice. For next GE that could well leave the left in the same position as the right were last time ie splitting their vote on ethnic lines.

I think it creates a very bleak outlook for our political future.

Has it ever occurred to you that you’re the lunatic? Unable to figure out what’s actually happening, this voting might be a message to those in power. It’s swung from a 13000 Labour majority to this result

You're making a massive assumption that this was with Muslim women. I would like to see the evidence of that first because people start down this narrative - it could have been amongst white people for all we know at the moment!

Also where is your evidence that this vote was the result of Gaza... again where is the evidence.

Lots of ex Labour voters have move towards the Greens because the Labour Party have left them and moved right in their attempt to stop Reform - which clearly has not worked for Labour.

Agree that what happened with Burnham was a mistake for Starmer too.

Again out of order. Criticise on policy but don't bring in mental health into the discussion like this because it does have those connotations attached to that word.. Disgusting

Gorton and Denton is not representative of the UK and the Greens could not fight a general election with hundreds of seats in the way they did this one.

I am utterly depressed that sectarian voting on Gaza is deciding who gets to be an MP in the UK.

Polanski is a liability. If he were let anywhere near the UK economy, you’d all be dreaming for Liz Truss to be back in power.

Only lunatics would carry on voting for the same old parties that only want to serve themselves and their rich friends or new parties such as Reform who want to serve hate. The Green Party are the only ones addressing the issues real people face day to day and the environmental threats we face. They are exactly what we need and I hope they continue to go from strength to strength. I also hope the change to voting age to 16 is put in place by the next GE as promised because that will be a huge benefit to the Green Party. Every young person I know is talking about politics and support the Greens. They are what this country needs.

I couldn’t guess as wasn’t sure but the result is really something. Greens winning and Labour third.

Will be interesting to see how Starmer and Labour deal with it.

Have you listened to Polanski in interviews explain how he’d fix the economy?

Two totally and entirely separate Parties.

Well let’s hope the English Greens are far more competent than the Scottish Greens. As @SirChenjins said, take a look at their track record when they were in a power sharing agreement with SNP, it was not good.

Working class, self employed, in a male dominated industry... is exactly the sort of woman my Grandad, Uncle and Great Uncle (one of who died) fought to be able to become an MP.

But the great news is the Tories had their worst defeat ever! 706 votes, Lab were 3rd but only just behind Reform...

Well done Hannah Spencer!

Its the idiots voting for Reform that would make my grandparents despair. The very same freedoms they fought for and the pride they had in Britian as a progressive nation would make them wonder why they did it.
The Greens aren't my cup of tea but they are 100 times better than Reform.

It was interesting to see Labour so sure they had it. On SM and a few posts on here.

Really pleased they were wrong. Starmer will be feeling it from his own party too.

If you look at the last GE result and assume the majority of Muslims voted Labour last time based on their huge winning majority, and then look at the ethnic split in that constituency and assume that the majority of Muslims are now voting Green then that explains nearly all of the swing.

I appreciate in reality it won’t be quite as simple and clear cut as that but the modest number of non Muslim voters shifting from Labour to Green really will be a drop in the ocean compared to the mass ethnic based shift.

One thing is for sure, politics in the UK will now get very ugly for a very long time. Whether people like it or not we are going to end up with sectarian politics and I fear we are going to have to live through that process before a lot of people appreciate just how bad that is.

Depending how long that takes and what the demographic split looks like at the end of it will dictate the long term future of our country.

So pleased with the results. Love Polanski and think he is a ray of light in the dark. He talks a lot of sense.

This is a real issue for the Tories, an unpopular Labour Govt, yet Badenoch cannot capitalise.

Wonder how long Badenoch has got?

I know some "try" and put this on Lab but the votes ... 700 for the Cons... 10,000 for Labour.

Yep my parents fought in WW2. They would have hated Refirm and loved the Greens.

This wasn't about Gaza predominantly. I live here and know what many people's thoughts were. Many Labour voters went Green for several reasons a) Fuck you Starmer for not letting Burnham stand b) Fuck off Reform, not letting racists win c) Fuck off Labour for not having a clear vision d)specific policies such as Gaza, .
Also Labour and Reform ran a horribly negative campaign. Hannah was localish, funny and a good speaker. Hers was a message of hope.