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The polls have closed in the three-way battle for Gorton and Denton<\/a> in south-east Manchester after one of the most unpredictable byelections in years.<\/p>\n The Green party leader Zack Polanski said before voting that his party was \u201cneck and neck\u201d with Reform UK to overturn Labour\u2019s 13,000-vote majority, and that Labour will need to \u201csearch their conscience\u201d if Reform UK wins.Keir Starmer\u2019s party had targeted left-leaning voters in the Greater Manchester<\/a> seat with claims that only Labour can see off Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform, saying that a vote for the Greens was \u201cin effect, a vote for Reform\u201d.<\/p>\n Labour\u2019s strategy of claiming the Greens could not win had echoes of the disastrous Caerphilly byelection<\/a> in October, which the party lost to Plaid Cymru despite telling voters repeatedly: \u201cOnly Labour can beat Reform.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour is defending a 13,413-vote majority in Gorton and Denton, where nearly 80% of voters backed a party on the left<\/a> at the 2024 election. The result will be declared at about 4am on Friday.<\/p>\n Angeliki Stogia, a councillor, was selected as the Labour candidate after Andy Burnham was prevented from standing. The academic turned GB News presenter Matt Goodwin<\/a> \u2013 who has faced criticism for his comments on women, Muslims and British citizenship \u2013 stood for Reform UK. Hannah Spencer<\/a>, a Trafford councillor and plumber by trade, is the Green party candidate.<\/p>\n Prof Will Jennings, of the University of Southampton, said the contest was too close to call and that in Britain\u2019s new fragmented politics \u201canything can happen\u201d. He said a Labour<\/a> defeat would be \u201cterminal\u201d for No 10\u2019s strategy to try to appeal to right-leaning voters, which has alienated its core progressive supporters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be a symbol of the failure of that strategy and the end point for it,\u201d said Jennings. \u201cThe worst-case scenario for Labour is coming third behind Reform and the Greens, not least because of the decision to stop Andy Burnham from standing.\u201d<\/p>\n A Labour victory would \u201cstaunch that sense of inevitability of the end of Starmer\u201d, he added, and potentially mark a turning point for a government eight points behind Reform in the polls and facing a resurgent Green party<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, any relief for Starmer would be short-lived as Labour is expected to suffer heavy losses when voters across England, Scotland and Wales go to the polls in the local and devolved elections in 10 weeks.<\/p>\n On a visit to the constituency on Monday, Starmer had described the Greens\u2019 plan to legalise drugs as \u201cdisgusting\u201d and claimed it would turn parks and playgrounds into \u201ccrack dens\u201d.<\/p>\n Polanski said Starmer\u2019s visit \u201cfelt very much like spoiler behaviour\u201d because it suggested Labour was confident of winning when, he claimed, that was not the case. \u201cI think the Labour party will have to search their conscience if they\u2019ve allowed the Reform party to win.\u201d<\/p>\n Polanski accused Labour of sinking to \u201ca new low\u201d with an attack advert on social media showing a green syringe alongside the words: \u201cHeroin, crack cocaine, spice. Green party says YES.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the last desperate gasp of a Keir Starmer Labour government,\u201d the Green party leader said.<\/p>\n