The Gorton and Denton byelection had been billed as a close three-horse race. Then Hannah Spencer won by a remarkable landslide.
Victory was the flavour of the night for the Hannah Spencer. In a stunning landslide, the Greater Manchester plumber, and newly qualified plasterer as she so gleefully announced, became the first Green Party member to win a seat in the north of England.
It had long been billed as a close three-horse race. But that reality soon faded when the count at Manchester Central was finally revealed after six tense hours. The polls closed at 10pm sharp – and the battle was firmly on, much like it had been for weeks.
The people of Denton and Gorton are too used to scandal and sleaze – their home constituency thrust into a manic media spotlight with infighting and dirty tricks which all started with a WhatsApp scandal last year.
As ballot boxes arrived one by one on Thursday (February 26), the night was not without its fair share of chaos. Journalists at the Manchester Evening News were snubbed by Labour, a row erupted over claims of ‘family voting’ and colluding between voting intentions, resulting in brash claims of party ‘cheating’, and an overwhelmed Hannah Spencer arrived late to the count and managed to avoid media questioning.
Follow LIVE updates here as Greens win byelection
It’s been a night to remember. Commentators and journalists have repeatedly noted the constituency’s huge divide and for a while, it was anyone’s game.
It is a constituency of two halves, as explored by the Manchester Evening News, with the Manchester side predominantly made up of younger and ethnically diverse residents and the Tameside half inhabited by mainly older, white British people.
There was a tough bid from Spencer, Goodwin and Stogia. They were tipped as the top runners early on, but a clear winner was vacant. Polls repeatedly changed. Nobody really knew which way it was going to go.
The night started off to a chaotic start. It took just an hour for an almighty row to erupt after the polls closed. Independent election observers Democracy Volunteers claimed there were ‘extremely high’ cases of illegal ‘family voting’ at polling stations in Gorton and Denton.
The firm said they had visited 22 of the 45 polling stations, and claimed to have witnessed incidents of family voting in 15 of the 22 polling stations observed, with some 32 cases in total. The Green Party, Reform UK and Labour have also since all responded to the claims, which Reform’s Matt Goodwin described as ‘deeply concerning’.
It prompted early fears of a re-count or appeal. Manchester council asked why the group issued their statement after polls closed at 10pm and not sooner. They also said staff were not told of family voting issues on-the-ground.
It was then that voting numbers were released. Despite more than 50 per cent of electorate not turning out to vote, it was billed as being a success, with more crossing their sheet than in the general election. Officials revealed the turnout was 47.62 per cent, with 36,903 votes cast.
Shortly after, the mood changed in the counting room. Reporters at the scene said rumblings of a Green victory began after the votes were verified. The ambiguity of the result was all of a sudden becoming much clearer and excitement grew.
So loud was the noise, that Labour’s Lucy Powell got herself in a sticky situation on Sky News, admitting that the Greens had ‘won the argument‘ on getting voters to divert away from Reform. She looked downtrodden as she said: “What’s clear is the Greens have turned out their vote higher than they might have otherwise done.
“There was a clear majority in this constituency that didn’t want Reform to win. People have been grappling with what to do in choosing who to vote for, and on the day the Greens have won that argument more strongly than we have.”
In the newsroom, political commentators and insiders were also billing for a Green victory. We kept the people of Gorton and Denton updated throughout it all. Had Labour voters defected to Green?
It was also referenced just how unique this byelection was. The Manchester-half of the constituency is largely ethnic minority groups and younger – a patch where smaller parties previously made inroads. It is also double the population of the Tameside and Denton part of the patch.
The candidates arrived one by one. Sir Oink-A-Lot, from the Monster Raving Loony party was met with cheers and fanfare. A bizarre but expected entrance, jumping in like he’d just necked a few pints at the pub, complete with stick on snout.
There was silence in the room as Labour’s candidate, Angeliki Stogia arrived. News had already escaped the was likely to have been pipped to the post by the Greens and Reform. Walking alongside Powell, she put on a brave face, but was clearly downtrodden and emotional.
Next up was Matt Goodwin for Reform, who launched quite quickly into a rant and conceded victory to the Greens, slamming the expected victory as being down to ‘a coalition of woke progressives and islamists’.
And last to arrive was Hannah Spencer. With Green’s leader Zack Polanski grinning like a Cheshire cat, it’s as though they already knew. She was quizzed on her punctuality, or lack of, seeming to dodge the camera and make a run for it before the big announcement.
Then the results came. A landslide victory for the Green Party and a working-class girl from Manchester. Not only throwing Keir Starmer’s tenure into dispute, but marking her as the first Green MP elected in the North. The 34-year-old won by a majority of more than 4,000 votes.
Her speech offered hope to the working class people of Greater Manchester. Hailing from the region and working in south Manchester, she emphasised that she is one of us.
“I am no different to every single person here in this constituency. I work hard. That is what we do,” she said. “People in their thousands told me, on the doorstep and at the ballot box, that what we are sick of is being let down and looked down on.
“We will finally get a seat at the table. We can demand better without hating each other. We ran a hopeful campaign backed by thousands of volunteers and activists. We defeated the parties of billionaire donors.
“Because this is Manchester. We do things differently here.”
But the bitterness that we have seen in this fight didn’t cease. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage swiftly accused the Greens of cheating their way to victory in a damning statement. Labour’s Angeliki snubbed the Manchester Evening News and refused to talk after she was pushed down to third place, making a swift exit.
It isn’t all catfighting. Hannah Spencer’s confident and profound speech will be music to the ears of many in Gorton and Denton. The only people who may be disappointed, are her customers she won’t have chance to visit.
“I might have to cancel the work you’ve booked in,” she quipped. “I’m heading to Parliament.”
