Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali has been elected as the first woman to represent Holborn and St Pancras after gaining 45.2% of the vote, retaining Labour’s stronghold in the constituency since its creation in 1983.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski came second with 8928 votes, the Conservative candidate Ewan Cameron came in third with 1922 votes, Reform UK’s Peter Newman received 1612 votes, and Patrick Thomas Stillman from the Liberal Democrats took fifth place with 924 votes. The overall turnout for this by-election was 38.76%
Ten other candidates stood here, including George Galloway from the Workers Party, Tyler Kurtis Johnson from Restore Britain, as well as candidates from Rejoin EU and UKIP.
The by-election was called after former Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned as an MP on the 1st September, citing that he wanted to focus on ‘international affairs’.
In her victory speech, Abdi-Wali reaffirmed her ‘commitment to [the] community’, regardless of whether they voted for her or not. She then added that she is proud to ‘represent the place’ that gave both her and her family a home.
Andy Burnham congratulated her on social media, writing that ‘Holborn and St Pancras voted for hope’. Similarly, Keir Starmer, her predecessor, also sent her warm wishes, stating that ‘I know you are a brilliant champion for our communities, and will make a fantastic MP’.
She also received praise from Zack Polanski, who wrote on X that he wished her ‘the very best’ during her time in office.
For Burnham and the Labour Party, this win is significant as it gives further evidence for the so-called ‘Burnham Bounce’, as recent opinion polls suggest an increase in support for Labour since he became Prime Minister over the summer.
However, Labour’s majority here has fallen significantly, from 11,572 in 2024 to 3364, suggesting that the party has yet to fully regain voters’ support.
This result was also significant for the Greens, whose increased their vote share by 22 percentage points, their ‘second strongest result’ in a by-election since Gorton and Denton in February. Polanski told BBC Breakfast he was ‘incredibly proud’ of their campaign, and said that their influence in recent British politics has ‘moved Labour’.
However, this promising result comes amid controversy for the Greens, following the passing of a motion at its conference which declared that ‘Zionism is Racism’. Since then, there has been pressure on Polanski to resign as leader, including from the chair of the Jewish Greens, Vivien Lichtenstein, who called the motion a ‘big mistake’. But, in an interview with the BBC on Friday, Polanski said he would have voted against the motion.
While Labour has retained the seat and elected its first female MP in this constituency, its significantly reduced majority highlights a changing political landscape. For Sagal Abdi-Wali, her focus now turns to representing and supporting her communities, as well as delivering on her commitments.
