Gorton & Denton by-election thread

[fromorbit]

This dramatic byelection to be held on Thursday 26 February 2026 is looking likely to have a confrontation over sex and gender with the Conservative's just announced candidate Charlotte Cadden being a trustee for Sex Matters. Another factor is with a large Muslim population in the area the group Muslim Vote has endorsed the Green candidate despite one of their aims to be remove teaching about LGBT issues from schools when religious parents object. Obviously in conflict with Green policy.

Candidates

• Angeliki Stogia will be the Labour candidate in this year's election. Ms Stogia moved to the UK from Greece in the 1990s and has served as a councillor in Whalley Range since 2004.
• Reform UK have selected GB News presenter Matt Goodwin as their candidate. He studied at the University of Salford and went on to have a career as a commentator and academic.
• The Liberal Democrats have selected local campaigner Jackie Pearcey as their candidate. She lives in the constituency and previously won 2,600 votes at the 2017 elections.
• The Green Party have put forward Hannah Spencer to stand for them at the by-election. She is a plumber by trade she is from Bolton and has lived in Greater Manchester all her life, and is based in Hale where she is a councilor. She doesn't believe biology is important in deciding gender.
• The Conservative Party have chosen former detective chief inspector Charlotte Cadden as their candidate. She served for 30 years in GMP and London's Met.
• The Re-join EU Party have announced that Joseph O'Meachair will be their candidate. He is a member of the party's executive committee and lives in the North West.

Sebastian Moore (Social Democratic Party)
The Social Democratic Party announced on Friday 30 January that the current SDP North West Chair Sebastian Moore will be running as their candidate in the by-election.

Nicholas Brendan Buckley Advance UK

He is a British charity worker and political figure who previously represented Reform UK.

Dan Clarke is the Libertarian Party candidate

Sir Oink A-Lot
Sir Oink A-Lot is The Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate

https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/elections/parl.gorton-and-denton.by.2026-02-26/gorton-and-denton/

The just announced Conservative candidate has serious form:
Former detective chief inspector Charlotte Cadden is a lesbian served for 30 years as a Police Officer, both for Greater Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police - Charlotte is a trustee of the charity Sex Matters, a member of the LGB Alliance Business Forum. She coordinates the Women’s Rights Network in Greater Manchester, In 2023, she set up the national Police SEEN.

Galloway's Worker's Party have now decided not to stand. They may have attracted a bunch of Muslim votes which will now go elsewhere.

Any hustings are going to be rather interesting.

She doesn't believe biology is important in deciding gender.

In fairness it isn't. It's important in deciding sex though. I agree that Green Party policy is ignorant of this to, just nitpicking really. Because I am actually fine with gender being unmoored from biology.

Another factor is with a large Muslim population in the area the group Muslim Vote has endorsed the Green candidate despite one of their aims to be remove teaching about LGBT issues from schools when religious parents object.

That seems extremely mad on both sides. They're totally incompatible. What a gift to the other candidates, particularly Charlotte who sounds head and shoulders above the others. Discussing that glaring inconsistency and lack of common sense seems a useful thing to do during hustings / debates in the run up to the vote. How can the Muslim vote endorse the Green Party who literally will think, and probably scream in their faces, that they're Nazi's for their position on LGBTQ+ teaching in schools?

The Green Party are simply Useful Idiots for the Muslim voters.

The liberals are like turkeys voting for Christmas.

Hannah Spencer seems to be a soft TRA. I don't know whether she genuinely believes in gender ideology or just goes along with it but she's not part of the bullying, authoritarian clique in the Green Party.

I've heard that at last year's GPEx (Green Party Executive) hustings, she said that some people were being labelled as transphobic without any evidence. It might not sound much, but in a Green Party context, that's a pretty strong statement.

She also loves greyhounds (I think she's involved in greyhound rescue) and spoke at Conference in support of a motion to ban greyhound racing. Totally irrelevant to women's rights but it's something that I like about her.

The long time ecological members are definitely being squeezed out and becoming a minority.

First the Green Party was infiltrated by TRAs who have successfully got into all the positions of power in the Party.

Now, Islamists are doing the same. There's a pro-Palestine, "anti-Zionist" motion for Spring Conference that has a lot of Jewish members upset and worried. One of my Jewish friends is genuinely frightened by what's happening.

I hope that the upcoming election will put both this and gender ideology & women's rights in the spotlight.

Interesting I see Shahrar Ali thinks Hannah is a decent candidate.

This is Hannah's statement in the recent internal elections. The one which Mothin Ali refused to answer:
https://feministgreens.greenparty.org.uk/internal-elections-2025/

Despite the recent regressive and unjust Supreme Court ruling which undermines the rights and dignity of trans people, and the anti-feminist and possibly illegal position taken by the EHRC, Feminist Greens remain committed to the Party’s policy: trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary and gender-diverse people must have their identities and lived realities fully recognised and respected.
We will continue to fight against the ongoing dismantling of LGBTQIA+ rights in society. We resolutely recognise bodily autonomy as a human right for all people of all ages, including the right of an individual to live their life as they know themselves to be, and the right to be fully supported by a desegregated healthcare system free from gatekeeping , LGBTIQA+ conversion therapy abuse practices, and clinical discrimination.
Do you support Feminist Greens’ views on this, and why/why not?
I wholeheartedly support this position as my own and I am proud that us as Greens are a place of refuge and solidarity for our LGBTQIA+ siblings. We cannot ever see progress towards an equal world if we watch people’s rights be removed. I believe everyone should be able to live as themselves, in peace and in dignity.
Alongside this, I am appalled at the idea that Trans people in particular hold any responsibility for the real dangers that women and girls live with every day in our society. To see them used as scapegoats in this way is cruel, and also detracts from the actual threat of gender based violence. I always try to use my voice in Council to highlight this and I repeatedly did this during the hustings I attended as part of the campaign for Mayor of Greater Manchester. I will always try and use my platform to call out the politicisation of human beings.

Another interesting aspect online is there are a lot of weird rumours about Hannah being married which she apparently isn't.

Team Sir Oink a Lot.

Not sure i'd hire Hannah Spencer to carry out work at my house, I'm not convinced she knows enough about plumbing.

I don't think the Green party believe in spelling Gorten (sic) correctly.

It's a high profile by-election and their attention to detail on official posters doesn't reflect well on them. Anyone who can't even manage to get that right doesn't fill me with confidence.

My vote is for Sir Oink A Lot.

I think I would vote for Mr Oink.

I’ve met Charlotte a few times, she’s great. It’s going to be an interesting by-election.

Thanks Fromorbit, watching with interest (well rooting for Charlotte actually - her presence should at least mean women’s issues are brought to the attention of the electorate).

I don’t think the green member is married but lives with her partner who is a scientist. I think that is where the confusion lies as MPs (including prospective ones) have to declare this information for transparency/conflict of interest reasons.

Wow, really? Offensive incompetence is the look the Greens are going for then?

I've got to say, even if I otherwise liked a party, I think incompetence so bad that they created official posters with a spelling mistake in the name of the constituency (did no-one proof read it before going to press?) might be a hard line I'd never ever considered.

If they can't get that right it seems running a country is almost certainly beyond them.

This election gets more and more interesting.

Best of luck to Charlotte.

The Workers Party of Britain (ie George Galloway) won't be contesting the Gorton and Denton by-election. Since The Muslim Vote are urging Muslims to vote for the Green candidate, this will help the Greens.

The Green Party are the only credible option in Gorton and Denton.

https://x.com/themuslimvoteuk/status/2016611330711547994

Well done to the Workers Party for taking this principled decision.

Now is the time to focus on defeating Labour and Reform, and we do that by uniting behind the Greens

https://x.com/themuslimvoteuk/status/2018069182512861226

Last time I checked Electoral Calculus Reform were predicted a huge win.

Will Muslim voters really vote for a party that wants to allow men in their daughter's spaces though? I know they've been told to by this group, to what extent will they be willing to do so despite the Green's stance on the LGBTQ+ and their hateful attitude to anyone who's not in agreement?

This seems a situation where the secret ballot is very important. Women who will be excluded by the Greens insanity from public life might just decide that in the ballot box their vote goes elsewhere.

Really.

Got to laugh or you'd cry really.

I might just decide that women's rights, child safeguarding and accurate SPAG are the grounds for my vote going forward.

Apparently Gorten is a historic spelling.

OMG they deadnamed it.

Tesco made a spelling mistake on their adverts for a new store locally (transposed two letters) and they were ripped to shreds. But they also got more publicity from it.. so it might make the candidate more known?

What is demographic like in the area... I can see the Reform candidate being a TV presenter making them more high profile. And the Conservative candidate being an Ex-Police Officer being a turn off.