Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali won the Holborn and St Pancras by-election with 12,292 votes, ahead of Green Party leader Zack Polanski on 8,928. Labour keeps Keir Starmer’s former London seat in the first by-election of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s tenure. Labour’s vote share fell from the 2024 general election while the Greens’ rose, and Polanski says he will stay on as party leader.
Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali won the Holborn and St Pancras by-election in London after voting on October 8, defeating Green Party leader Zack Polanski. It was the first electoral test of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s premiership.[1], [2]
The count gave Abdi-Wali 12,292 votes and Polanski 8,928. The Conservatives won 1,922 votes and Reform UK 1,612, and turnout was 38.76 percent.[1]
Labour took about 45 percent of the vote and the Greens about 33 percent. Labour’s share was lower than in the 2024 general election, while the Green share increased. Polanski had sought a seat in parliament while serving as the Greens’ national leader and, after the result, said he was determined to keep leading his party.[1]
The seat covers Holborn and St Pancras in the London borough of Camden. The vote followed the departure from parliament of former prime minister Keir Starmer, who had announced his resignation in early September.[1]
Abdi-Wali entered the contest as leader of Camden Council. She came to Britain as a child refugee from Somalia and is the first woman elected to represent the constituency. Her victory remarks stressed housing, homelessness, young people and the representation of the area’s diverse communities. She supports bringing Thames Water, the water company, into public ownership and said she had already begun discussions with Burnham on that subject and on opportunities for young people. Housing pressures and voters’ living conditions were important campaign issues.[1]
