On 27th February 2026, 34 years old Hannah Spencer was elected as the MP for Gorton and Denton constituency with a 40.7% of the vote and made history as the first Green MP in the old industrial North.
In a three-way battle in south-west Manchester, Hannah, “the blond plumber”, as described by an excited elderly resident from Denton, overturned Labour’s 13,000-vote majority and beat anti-immigrants, pro-austerity GB News presenter and brexiteer Matt Goodwin from Reform UK into 2nd place.
Baffled by inconclusive polls right up to the last week before polling day, there had been much speculation from main media commentators and election experts about the demographic factor and how it was likely to play out in the newly created and split constituency.
A key question on every pundit’s mind was whether working class Labour voters from Denton to the east of the constituency with a population of 22,875 would switch their support to anti-immigrants/ brexiteer Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin. The other unknown was whether voters in 50,062 strong and much more diverse Gorton would vote tactically to keep Reform UK out.
As Hannah’s campaign volunteers were still busy hand addressing 45000 letters at the Village hotel in Ashton, concerns were expressed that Reform UK appeared to be in front with a gap of 0.2%. In the last 36 hours, the number of volunteers rose up to 1600. Divided in 4 groups with door knockers, leaflet deliverers, leaflet bundlers and drivers, they jolly well delivered and beyond all expectations.
A pivotal factor in Hannah’s victory was her highly energetic and creative social media campaign targetting the Muslim community. Muslims make up about 30 percent of the Gorton and Denton electorate.This was helped with support from former Workers’ Party MP George Galloway who chose not to stand and from Your Party’s co-leaders. Jeremy Corbyn travelled to the constituency where he was seen lending his warm support to Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali on the steps of a Mosque in the constituency.
Labour had already been taken by surprise by the loss of the Muslim vote in 2024 because of Keir Starmer’s support for Israel. In this 2026 by-election, the Green Party’s long-standing policy in favour of the Two States solution and vigorous campaign against the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza came to its own and delivered the Muslim vote fairly and squarely.
Notwithstanding the highly efficient election campaign and the unprecedented rallying of thousands of young and older green volunteers coming from the far corners of the country from day one, the significance of what Hannah Spencer and her team have achieved in Greater Manchester has been widely acknowleged as “seismic”.
Whether Hannah Spencer’s amazing win that pushed Labour into third place and stopped Reform UK in its track in a working class neighbourhood will prove to have marked a turning point or be considered to be an earthquake in UK politics remains inconclusive.
Bearing in mind that Gorton and Denton was 127th in the Party’s target list, it is difficult to imagine that Hannah’s win will be replicated at a General Election in 30 or more constituencies. What is clear is that whilst Reform UK cannot take voters from ‘behind the Red Wall’ for granted, tactical voting will reach such a high level as to, in effect, render our century old two party system obsolete.
When that becomes an increasingly obvious pattern in all elections, the antiquated and deeply unfair first-past-the-post voting system will finally have to be abolished and be replaced by Proportional Representation.
And that will indeed be a seismic revolution in the UK’s political landscape.
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