{"id":25797,"date":"2026-02-27T18:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=25797"},"modified":"2026-02-27T18:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:11:51","slug":"labour-mps-demand-starmer-change-direction-after-humiliating-byelection-loss-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=25797","title":{"rendered":"Labour MPs demand Starmer change direction after humiliating byelection loss | Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Keir Starmer is facing an ultimatum from his own party to change direction or see a leadership challenge within months after the Greens humiliated Labour with a historic byelection victory in Gorton and Denton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Overturning a 13,000 Labour<\/a> majority from the general election, Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green councillor, became the party\u2019s fifth MP on Friday. Reform UK\u2019s Matt Goodwin was second, just ahead of the Labour candidate, Angeliki Stogia.<\/p>\n

The scale of defeat in an area which had returned Labour MPs for nearly a century, and where Starmer\u2019s party still believed it could win even on polling day, plunged his ministers and MPs into renewed despair just weeks after he saw off a challenge<\/a> to his position.<\/p>\n

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While only a handful of backbenchers called openly for Starmer to depart in the wake of the result, even loyal ministers said the surge in Green fortunes under the leadership of Zack Polanski meant the prime minister had to address an exodus of Labour voters from its left flank.<\/p>\n

In a pointed comment, Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister and a key figure on Labour\u2019s left, called the result \u201ca wake-up call\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Hannah Spencer was elected MP of Gorton and Denton, the first Green MP in northern England.<\/span> Photograph: Andy Kelvin\/PA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Starmer appeared minded to ignore the pressure, using a TV clip and letter to his MPs to attack the Greens as an \u201cextreme\u201d leftwing equivalent of Reform UK, saying they could not replicate the success in a general election.<\/p>\n

Without a significant turnaround in his fortunes, Starmer could see a leadership challenge after elections in May to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils, with Labour currently expected to fare badly in all of them.<\/p>\n

One new poll on Friday suggested that, in Scotland, Labour could be pushed into fourth place for the first time, behind not just the SNP and Reform, but also the Scottish Greens.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it hastens everything,\u201d one MP on the soft left of the party said of the Gorton and Denton result. \u201cI thought we could maybe keep going for another year after May but definitely not now. I don\u2019t think anything can save him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ministers usually loyal to the prime minister were similarly downbeat. \u201cThe result is cataclysmically bad for us. The worst possible,\u201d one said. \u201cIt will obviously intensify calls for Keir to make moves to the progressive wing, but the calls will be to do it now \u2013 not in a few months or even a few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sense of humiliation for Starmer is heightened by the fact that Downing Street blocked Andy Burnham<\/a>, the Greater Manchester mayor, from standing in the byelection, with many in the party believing Burnham\u2019s local popularity would have saved the seat.<\/p>\n

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A chart showing the change in voting in Gorton and Denton between the 2024 general election and the 2026 byelection<\/a><\/figure>\n

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The two men met in Manchester this week for one-on-one talks, which were said to have been initially awkward but ultimately constructive as they cleared the air.<\/p>\n

However, Burnham is understood not to have ruled out having another go at returning to parliament. \u201cWith all the chaos and turmoil, who knows what might happen. It would be foolish to say he would never,\u201d one ally said.<\/p>\n

For the Greens, the result was a historic triumph, bringing the party not just its first byelection win but a sign to voters that it has the potential upper hand in offering an alternative to Reform.<\/p>\n

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