Zack Polanski selected as Green candidate in two-horse race with Labour for Starmer’s former seat

Zack Polanski has been selected as the Green Party’s candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras by election as he prepares to fight the crucial contest in the historically Labour seat.

The by election was triggered by the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer as an MP, after he was ousted by his party and replaced as prime minister by Andy Burnham.

Speaking as he was confirmed as the party’s candidate in the contest, which will take place next month, the Green Party leader said: “I am here to fight for you, because when I first moved to London 20 years ago, it was Camden I made my home, and I have lived and worked across Holborn and St Pancras for many of the years since.”

He declared the winner of a local party members’ vote after online hustings on Thursday night, after coming up against local councillor Hamza Chowdhury for the Green nomination.

Mr Chowdhury stated that Holborn and St Pancras does not need “another MP who arrives during an election campaign” and then “disappears once the votes are counted”.

The by-election will pose early test for Mr Burnham’s popularity with the public, with the Greens likely to pose the greatest threat to Labour in the contest.

Labour has held the Holborn and St Pancras seat continuously since it was created in 1983, but voters there have moved towards Green and independent candidates in recent years.

Only two Labour MPs have ever represented Holborn and St Pancras: former health secretary Frank Dobson, from 1983 to 2015, then Sir Keir.

But Green Party made gains in the May local elections in the London Borough of Camden, the local authority that covers the constituency.

The contest also poses a challenge for the Green Party leader himself as he takes on Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali, who has led Camden Council since May this year and been a councillor for Camden Square since 2022, at the October 8 contest.

Support for the Greens surged in his first year as leader but the party’s national polling has dipped since Mr Burnham replaced Sir Keir in Downing Street.

Mr Polanski, a London Assembly member, has previously said he was “excited” by the prospect of winning the seat and entering the Commons.

He dismissed suggestions from rival Mr Chowdhury that the constituency did not need “another MP who arrives during an election campaign” then “disappears once the votes are counted”.

“I think the local party already knows that doesn’t describe me at all. It’s a place that I know very, very well,” Mr Polanski said on Wednesday.

“I’m excited for this campaign because I think the Green Party and I have a real story to tell and I’m confident, but not complacent, I’ll be out there campaigning for every vote, that it’s a message that will resonate with people in Holborn and St Pancras.”

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