UK's Starmer under pressure as Greens win by-election

(Sharecast News) - The pressure on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer intensified on Friday after the Green Party won an unexpected victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election. His ruling Labour Party saw its 13,000 vote majority overturned by Hannah Spencer - a local plumber and Green party councillor - and pushed into third place, 5,616 votes behind the Greens on 14,980 votes.

"It's a very disappointing result. Incumbent governments quite often get results like that mid-term. But I do understand that voters are frustrated, they're impatient for change," Starmer said on Friday.

It is the first time in almost 100 years that the Gorton area of Manchester has not been represented by a Labour member of parliament. The far-right anti-immigrant Reform UK came second with 10,578 votes. Labour's share of the vote fell 25% from the 2024 General Election.

In a major embarrassment, the main opposition Conservatives lost their deposit, as did the Liberal Democrats after they polled fewer than 5% of votes, with both winning less than 2%.

Starmer, who now faces calls from within his party to stand down amid disastrous poll ratings, now has to deal with voters turning to the Greens in order to keep out Reform.

Financial markets were largely unmoved by the result, with the pound and bonds, known as gilts in the UK, steady.

"Earlier this month, speculation that Starmer could be usurped by someone within his party did cause some volatility in the gilt market, however, this was quickly resolved after members of the UK cabinet stepped in to support Starmer," said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks.

"While there are likely to be calls for Starmer to go from within his own party, we do not expect the Labour bigwigs, or the cabinet to join them. Who would want to depose Starmer and then face the Spring Statement next week?"

"Already this morning, cabinet members have said that this result should not be overinterpreted, which is a sign that Starmer could be safe for now."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com