Greens Beat Labour in By-Elections: Starmer Loses Even at Home

What was supposed to be a routine confirmation vote for the governing party turned into a surprising result for the British left. The Conservatives didn’t make it to the podium, but the real humiliation fell on the Labour Party, relegated to third place in what had long been considered a safe stronghold. The contest in the Gorton and Denton constituency, in Greater Manchester, saw Labou, just two years ago boasting a majority of over 13,000 vote, overtaken not only by the Greens but even by the anti-immigration Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage.

The winner, Hannah Spencer of the Greens, entered Westminster with just over 14,900 votes, a paltry figure compared to the numbers Labour used to achieve, while the left-wing vote seemed to have evaporated. This result is not an isolated episode but a symptom of a systemic problem for the British left. Those who have spent years focusing on ideological policies, identity narratives, and abstract environmental goals have ended up losing ground even among voters in a former Labour stronghold.

The left appears to have lost its natural leadership of progressive voters. The traditional alliance of trade unions, workers, and working-class voters is crumbling under the weight of environmental slogans and urban cultural trends disconnected from everyday realities. Voting Green does not mean governing: although the Green Party is celebrating the result, its campaign focused on very specific issue, radical environmentalism, legalization agendas, protest-driven foreign polic, far removed from the concrete concerns of families about jobs, safety, and economic growth. Meanwhile, the fragmentation of the left gives ground to populist forces, splitting progressive voters into antagonistic factions that fracture rather than strengthen support.

The Gorton and Denton vote is not just a Green victory; it is a wake-up call. It shows how the traditional left is facing an identity crisis and lacks political direction. It is the logical consequence of a strategy that prioritized cultural identities over citizens’ real economic and social concerns. In many European capitals, similar dynamics are already unfolding: when the left focuses more on symbols than on tangible results, it loses support even in historically safe areas, risking oscillation between marginal parties and right-wing populist surges, leaving enormous gaps in the center of the political spectrum.

In summary, this election does not represent a historic victory for the left in the traditional sense, but rather a historic defeat for the institutional left. It is a warning to those who over the years have favored ideological campaigns over concrete solutions: votes can evaporate, and old strongholds can collapse if one forgets what it truly means to represent the people.

Klevis Gjoka