Voters in the Greater Manchester constituency of Gorton and Denton are heading to the polls today, February 26, 2026, for a by-election that has captured national attention and is shaping up to be a defining test for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s embattled Labour Party. Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. GMT and will close at 10:00 p.m., with results expected to be declared overnight and into Friday.
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne on January 22, 2026, due to ill health. Gwynne, who won the seat in 2024 with a commanding majority of 13,413 votes and more than half the total share, had been sitting as an Independent after being sacked over offensive WhatsApp messages, one of which reportedly joked about a constituent’s death. His departure has left the seat—long considered a Labour stronghold—suddenly up for grabs, and the contest is widely seen as a bellwether for the future of Starmer’s leadership.
The list of candidates is as eclectic as it is crowded, featuring Angeliki Stogia (Labour), Hannah Spencer (Green Party), Matt Goodwin (Reform UK), Charlotte Cadden (Conservative), Jackie Pearcey (Liberal Democrats), Nick Buckley (Advance UK), Dan Clarke (Libertarian Party), Sebastian Moore (Social Democratic Party), Joseph O'Meachair (Rejoin EU Party), Hugo Wils (Communist League), and even Sir Oink A-Lot from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. Yet, the real drama centers on a tight three-way contest between Labour’s Stogia, Reform UK’s Goodwin, and the Greens’ Spencer.
Historically, Gorton and Denton has been a Labour bastion. The area is home to a mix of working-class families, students, university graduates, and a large ethnic minority population—demographics that have reliably supported Labour and helped propel Starmer to Number 10 in 2024. But this by-election is different. According to BBC, polling and campaign insiders now suggest a virtual dead heat between the three leading parties, with some even predicting a Green Party upset in what was once considered a safe Labour seat.
The stakes could hardly be higher for Sir Keir Starmer. As POLITICO notes, the by-election is widely billed as a major test for the Prime Minister, whose popularity has waned amid a series of political crises and scandals. “The choice at today’s by-election could not be more stark. Unity or division. Driving down the cost of living with Labour or driving a wedge between communities under Reform. Moving forwards together, or opening up anger and division that holds our country back,” Starmer told voters in his final pitch, according to The Telegraph. He did not mince words about his main rival, declaring, “Reform’s Matthew Goodwin thinks people who aren’t white can’t be English and wants women who choose not to have children to pay more tax. Vote Labour in Gorton and Denton today to send him and his toxic politics packing.”
Labour has thrown its full weight behind the campaign, with more than 1,000 activists expected to descend on the constituency. Starmer himself visited Gorton and Denton on February 24, 2026, in a show of confidence, while even former Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a rare intervention, urging voters to stick with Labour. The party’s campaign bus took aim at Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, emblazoned with the slogan: “Remember the £350 million a week for our NHS? You can’t trust Farage.”
But the campaign has been anything but clean. According to The Sun, Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell described the race as “characterised by misinformation, with dodgy bar charts.” Accusations of dirty tricks have flown in all directions. Labour accused the Greens of “whipping up hatred” in parts of the constituency with a significant Muslim population, pointing to Urdu-language leaflets that depicted Cabinet Minister David Lammy meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged Muslims to “punish Labour for Gaza.” The Green Party’s leader responded by calling Labour “irrelevant” in this election, while candidate Hannah Spencer pledged to “run the far right out of Manchester, not to come back.” She added, “The polls and independent tactical voting organisation are clear that voting Green is the only way to ensure Reform don’t win. We are confident and have run a fantastic campaign.”
Reform UK, meanwhile, has positioned itself as the party of change, with Nigel Farage making a high-profile visit to the constituency on February 25, 2026, to campaign alongside Goodwin. Farage’s message was unambiguous: “The Prime Minister is panicking and knows he has broken his promises to the British people. Vote Reform to ditch Starmer.” The party, however, was forced to suspend its interim campaign manager Adam Mitula after reports surfaced that he used racist and misogynist language on social media. Mitula claimed his remarks were “taken out of context.”
On the campaign trail and in Parliament, the rhetoric has grown increasingly heated. Starmer, speaking in the Commons on February 25, 2026, launched a fierce attack on the Green Party, saying, “The Green Party’s policy isn’t just irresponsible, it’s reprehensible, legalising cocaine, heroin, ketamine and the date rape drug, GHB, a drug which we know is used to spike drinks for women. I have to say, as the father of a 17-and-a-half-year-old son, that the idea that the argument is being made by the Greens that when he turns 18, in just a few months, it would be lawful to provide him with heroin and crack cocaine is absolutely disgusting.”
With the local elections looming on May 7 and Labour’s poll ratings under pressure, MPs are watching the outcome in Gorton and Denton closely. Some within Labour are already mulling potential leadership challenges, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former deputy PM Angela Rayner seen as possible successors. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, another high-profile figure, tried to stand in the seat but was blocked by Labour’s ruling executive.
Bookmakers have made Green candidate Hannah Spencer the slight favorite, though polling at by-election level is notoriously fickle. According to The Times, an Opinium poll suggested the Greens were edging ahead in the previously safe Labour seat. Reform UK’s Farage, meanwhile, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the outcome “is probably too close to call,” urging anyone who wants to “get rid of Starmer” to turn out and vote.
As the voting hours tick down, the outcome remains uncertain—and the political consequences could be seismic. The race for Gorton and Denton has become a microcosm of the turbulence shaking British politics, where old loyalties are breaking down, new parties are rising, and the fate of a prime minister could hinge on the votes of a single constituency in Greater Manchester.
Whatever the result, it’s clear that Gorton and Denton will be remembered as the seat where the political ground shifted—perhaps for good.