Prominent voices on the Left have said that Labour needs to get back to 'being Labour'
Despite the polls and predictions pointing to a knife-edge contest, when it came to it, the Gorton and Denton by-election wasn’t close.
The Greens’ Hannah Spencer won with a majority of 4,402 votes, beating Reform.
The result is a historic defeat for Labour. Gorton and Denton was a safe Labour seat, in an area that the party had held continuously since 1935, through several boundary changes.
Here are some initial reactions from Labour figures and trade unions following the party’s defeat.
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East, said: “Our party has just come third in Gorton and Denton, a previously safe Labour seat – an area where we haven’t lost an election since 1931.”
Whittome said there were clear lessons to be learned and warned the party not to “ape Reform”.
She said: “In order to keep our voter coalition together we should be true to the progressive values that Labour is meant to stand for. The failure to do this meant large parts of our coalition fled to another progressive party.”
Whittome also criticised Labour for putting “factional interests ahead of anything else” by blocking Andy Burnham from standing as a candidate.
She also said: “The bizarre claims about the Greens in relation to drugs and sex workers were desperate, embarrassing, and harmful. It is no wonder they did not work and instead reflected badly on our party.”
Whittome said that the results “shows why first past the post isn’t fit for purpose. If the government doesn’t introduce proportional voting, a far right party could win the next general election outright on a minority of the vote.
“This possibility inevitably makes tactical voting essential in some seats, and Labour is playing with fire.”
Karl Turner, Labour MP for Kingston-upon-Hull, said the result was “a catastrophe”.
He told Times Radio: “The reality is we’ve ended up with a situation which we could have avoided, that’s just the truth. This was avoidable. But here we are, in Manchester, with the Greens. It’s the worst result the Labour Party could have ever had, frankly.
“So here we are with a situation where we can’t out-left wing the Greens, we tried to out-right wing Reform on immigration and other such matters.
“My message to Keir Starmer, the prime minister, is this: why don’t we try and be Labour?”
Andrea Egan, Unison’s general secretary said: “The Greens won because Labour under Starmer has abandoned progressive values, imitating the far-right instead of taking the fight to them.
“If the Government wants to survive it urgently needs to stand up for workers and defend the fundamental values of our movement.”
General secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham, said: “Labour need now to ditch the gimmicks and get back to being Labour – not New Labour claptrap, not one that plays games but real Labour.”
She said that “workers and families are hurting”, and told Labour to “Stop listening to your rich mates and start listening to everyday people”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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