UK Green Party wins special election, pushing Starmer's Labour to third place

LONDON (AP) — The Green Party won a special parliamentary election in England on Friday, a big boost for the small party and a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose center-left Labour Party was relegated to third place.

Green candidate Hannah Spencer was declared winner of the contest in Gorton and Denton early Friday, with 14,980 votes. Matthew Goodwin of hard-right party Reform UK got 10,578 votes. Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia received 9,364.

The result illustrates the increasingly fragmented political landscape in Britain, which was dominated for decades by the Labour and Conservative parties. The Gorton and Denton constituency in Greater Manchester elected Labour lawmakers for almost all of the last century, but Starmer’s government has seen its popularity plunge since it won office in July 2024.

Labour’s share of the vote was halved from 2024 national election, when it won the area easily. Spencer won by an unexpectedly wide margin to give the environmentalist Greens their fifth seat in the 650-seat House of Commons.

“For people here in Gorton and Denton who feel left behind and isolated: I see you and I will fight for you,” said Spencer, plumber and a local councilor, in her victory speech.

She apologized to her plumbing customers, saying she would have to cancel some appointments because “I’m heading to Parliament."

The Green Party beat not just Labour, which holds 404 Commons seats, but the anti-immigration Reform UK, led by the veteran hard-right politician Nigel Farage, which holds eight Commons seats but has topped national opinion polls for months.

Jenny Jones, a Green member of the House of Lords, called the result “absolutely seismic.”

The outcome of the election, which was triggered by the resignation of the area’s former Labour lawmaker, had been hard to call, in a diverse area that has traditional working-class neighborhoods — once strongly Labour, now tilting toward Reform — as well as large numbers of university students and Muslim residents. Many of them feel disillusioned by Labour’s centrist shift under Starmer and the government’s perceived slowness at criticizing Israel’s conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza — fertile ground for the Green Party.

Under “eco-populist” leader Zack Polanski, the Greens have expanded beyond environmental concerns to focus on issues including the cost of living, legalization of drugs and support for the Palestinian cause.

Starmer has endured a string of setbacks since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024. He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living. He pledged a return to honest government after 14 years of Conservative government that ended in scandals and chaos, but has been beset by missteps and U-turns over welfare cuts and other unpopular policies.

Friday’s defeat underscores the depth of Labour’s unpopularity and the challenge it faces from both left and right.

The next national election does not have to be held until 2029, meaning the main threat to Starmer comes from within his own party, whose lawmakers are considering whether to ditch him for a new leader.

Starmer had a narrow escape earlier this month as party discontent spiked after revelations about the relationship between sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Mandelson, the veteran Labour politician appointed by Starmer in 2024 to be U.K. ambassador to Washington.

Police are investigating emails suggesting Mandelson passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. Mandelson was arrested and questioned by detectives this week before being released on bail. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.

Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2025 after evidence emerged that the ambassador had maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. But recent revelations have stirred up Labour lawmakers’ anger at Starmer’s poor judgment in appointing Mandelson to the Washington job.

Starmer also will face questions about why the party blocked Andy Burnham, the popular Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, from running in the byelection. Burnham is widely seen as a potential leadership rival to Starmer.

The defeat will bolster those who argue that the government’s efforts to win over “Reform-curious” voters with policies aimed at curbing immigration have alienated many liberal voters.

Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell said “what is really clear is that there is a big majority in this constituency that hasn’t voted for Reform. And on the day the Greens have managed to win that argument that they were best placed to do that.”

But she insisted that “there is no leadership contest” in the Labour Party.

Green Party supporters in Levenshulme in northwest England, Thursday Feb. 26, 2026, as voters head to the polls in the Gorton and Denton constituency. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

The Greens Party candidate Hannah Spencer, left, stands with party leader Zack Polanski after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election, Manchester, England, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

The Greens Party candidate Hannah Spencer, left, stands with party leader Zack Polanski after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election, Manchester, England, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Labour and Green Party supporters in Levenshulme in northwest England, Thursday Feb. 26, 2026, as voters head to the polls in the Gorton and Denton constituency. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Voters in the Longsight area of Manchester, northwest England, enter a polling station, Thursday Feb. 26, 2026, as voters head to the polls in the Gorton and Denton constituency. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks with students and staff, during a visit to the Walbottle Academy Campus in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Scott Heppell/PA via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two people were killed after a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local officials said Saturday, in the latest barrage of civilian areas, a hallmark of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Seven people were also wounded in the attack, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said. Hours later Russia attacked another minibus in Kherson, wounding the driver, he said.

Meanwhile, along the northern border with Belarus, Ukraine recorded “rather unusual” activity on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram on Saturday. Without elaborating, he said activity was seen on the Belarusian side of the border and that Ukraine would act if matters escalated.

“We are closely documenting and keeping the situation under control. If necessary, we will react,” he said.

Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin, has allowed Russia to use its territory as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine and to host some of Moscow’s tactical nuclear weapons.

On Ukraine's Black Sea coast, a Russian strike damaged port infrastructure in the city of Odesa. No casualties were reported.

Ukrainian civilians have endured relentless air assaults since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago. U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv over the past year have brought no respite, with Russia rejecting Ukraine’s offer of a ceasefire, and in recent weeks the Iran war has diverted international attention from Ukraine’s plight.

Meanwhile, on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, Russia claimed Saturday it had taken control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.

It was not possible to independently verify the battlefield claims, and Ukraine did not immediately comment.

In Russia, local officials in the Krasnodar region said that a fire that broke out Friday following a Ukrainian strike on an oil terminal in the Black Sea city of Tuapse was put out on Saturday.

Ukrainian drones have hit the oil refinery and export terminal in Tuapse on four occasions in just over two weeks, sparking fires that prompted local evacuations and sent up massive plumes of smoke.

Ukraine has escalated its long-distance strikes against Russian oil facilities in an effort to slash Moscow’s oil exports, a key source of funding for its grinding invasion of Ukraine. But the economic impact is so far unclear, as the rise in oil prices from the Iran war, and a related easing of U.S. sanctions, have helped replenish the Kremlin’s coffers.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

FILE - In this image taken from video released by Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev's Telegram channel, smoke rises after a drone attack on the oil refinery and terminal in Tuapse, Russia, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev Telegram channel via AP, File)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire a building following a Russian drone attack in Odesa region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire a building following a Russian drone attack in Odesa region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)