We report responses within Labour to the most important byelection in a generation.

“The result in Gorton and Denton last night has ripped British politics apart,” reported The Lead. “For years, Reform UK has styled itself as the voice of the ‘silent majority’, the authentic expression of a country gagged by liberal elites.”

But Green Party candidate Hannah Spencer “didn’t just edge past Reform, she thrashed them. With 40.7 per cent of the vote and a majority of more than 4,000, the Greens finished 12 points clear of Reform’s Matt Goodwin. The combined Green and Labour vote was more than double Reform’s total. No last-minute tactical squeeze was required; the so-called insurgency was beaten comfortably and democratically. It is a resounding victory for the left.”

But it was also, as a large number of people pointed out, a rejection of Keir Starmer’s government. Labour came third, with just 9,564 votes to the Greens’ 14,980 and Reform’s 10,578. The Tories lost their deposit with just 706 votes.

 Unite General secretary Sharon Graham said: “Labour need now to ditch the gimmicks and get back to being Labour – not New Labour claptrap, not one that plays games but real Labour.”

“The Greens won because Labour under Starmer has abandoned progressive values, imitating the far-right instead of taking the fight to them,” said Unison General Secretary Andrea Egan. “If the Government wants to survive it urgently needs to stand up for workers and defend the fundamental values of our movement.”

Steve Wright, General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: “Labour’s entire strategy of framing politics as ‘it’s us v Reform’ is in tatters after its very first electoral test.”

Imran Hussain MP agreed: “This result is an absolute disaster for Labour. The blame lies squarely with a leadership that put narrow factional interests first. Coming third in a heartland seat is on them – no excuses.

The strategy of trying to out-Reform Reform has completely failed. If Labour is to earn back trust, it must return to real Labour values: a Wealth Tax, public ownership of energy and water, and an ethical foreign policy. The leadership is running out of time to turn things round.”

Nadia Whittome MP issued a detailed critique: “It is those running our party who are to blame. We need change at the top and serious lessons need to be learnt:

“1) Don’t ape Reform. In order to keep our voter coalition together we should be true to the progressive values that Labour is meant to stand for. The failure to do this meant large parts of our coalition fled to another progressive party.

“2) Don’t put factional interests ahead of everything else. The party blocked a popular candidate in Andy Burnham, who may well have been able to win this seat, from even putting himself forward for nakedly factional reasons, while the terrible decision to appoint Mandelson as US Ambassador came back to bite Labour.

“3) Don’t play dirty. The bizarre claims about the Greens in relation to drugs and sex workers were desperate, embarrassing, and harmful. It is no wonder they did not work and instead reflected badly on our party.

“4) Don’t say only Labour can beat Reform if – thanks to the leadership’s own self-sabotage – it’s not true. Because it will be true in many other seats, and now voters won’t believe us.”

Others also blamed leadership factionalism. Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP tweeted: “To all those Labour Party members and supporters who will feel so disappointed this morning I just say first the nightmare of Reform was blocked and second it was Labour Together that lost this election not the Labour Party that I know and have supported all my adult life.”

Brian Leishman MP said: “The blame lies with Starmer and the people that surround him. Blocking Burnham was wrong and he did it for his own benefit. The political idea that we should try and out-Reform Reform is wrong and been rejected.  Time he did the right thing for the country and the Labour Party, and go.”

Richard Burgon MP agreed: “I warned the leadership that Labour risked coming third in Gorton and Denton because of its approach on policy and barring candidates – but it put its own narrow factional interests first.”

Apsana Begum MP added: “Factional interests were made central, with the Mandelson saga exposing rot at the top. Communities were treated with contempt on Gaza, migrants and more. The negative campaigning, including on drugs and sex workers was harmful and shameful. The strategy of continuing to ape Reform while blaming progressives which is ideologically rooted, was rejected. The Prime Minister and his circle in the Labour Party are fully responsible.”

MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said: “Today’s byelection result is the consequence of the leadership deserting core Labour values.”

Momentum Co-Chair Alex Charilaou stated: “Losing a safe seat like Gorton and Denton could have been prevented if Andy Burnham wasn’t blocked from standing. Hundreds of hardworking Labour candidates up and down the country could face defeat in May. It’s time for a complete change in direction: the control-freakery and top-down politics has to end.”

Simon Fletcher, former Chief of Staff under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership pointed out: “Labour’s general secretary was quoted as saying that ‘the Green Party are clearly high on the Class-A drugs they want to legalise if they think they are in this race because we know they are not.’ Either Labour knew this was not true or its data was worthless. The party’s tactics descended into outright lying, producing a bar chart showing a tight race between Labour and Reform by omitting the full chart that placed the Greens at the same level (indeed the fuller result of the same Opinium polling showed the Greens ahead), and invented a totally fake tactical voting organisation ‘Tactical Choice’ that purported to recommend a Labour vote to stop Reform. All of this was an effort to bend reality to fit Labour’s script that it was fight between Labour and Reform. As it transpired, Labour came third in that two horse race.”

Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, told PoliticsHome: “The by-election result is a punch in the face for the Labour Party and for Keir Starmer’s premiership. This government has burned its base, alienated its core vote, sidelined its activists and stuck two fingers up to the very people we came into politics to represent. And we’re surprised voters are walking away? Changing the leader without changing the politics would be a waste of time. The problem isn’t presentation. It’s direction.”

Two major mistakes in Starmer’s strategy are repeatedly being highlighted as to why a change of leadership is now required. The first is his government’s policy of trying to win Reform-leaning voters by emulating their policy on immigration. The second is Starmer’s decision to block Andy Burnham from running for the seat. PoliticsHome reported: “Muslim Vote – an organisation that encourages politicians to put Muslim issues, such as being pro-Gaza, at the forefront – was contemplating endorsing Labour if it had selected Burnham. Instead, it threw its weight behind the Greens after the news Burnham was blocked, even before Polanski’s party had selected a candidate.”

Clive Lewis MP again: “Starmer does not deserve to be here much longer. At the moment the only person who would benefit if Starmer went would be Wes Streeting, who is an acolyte of Peter Mandelson. That would mean more of the same.”

Jon Trickett MP was equally unequivocal. “Labour now needs new leadership. But removing one man will not be enough. The politics that produced this failure must go with him. Without a new direction, changing the leader alone will solve nothing.”

There was no sign that Starmer himself had learned the obvious lesson of the campaign. Instead, the Prime Minister lashed out at the Greens, bizarrely blaming “an endorsement from George Galloway to win over enough voters to push them over the line.”

His suggestion that the Greens used “divisive, sectarian politics” to win echoed Reform’s view. Naz Shah MP responded: ‘How do supposedly ‘sectarian Muslims’ end up voting for a radically progressive party with a gay Jewish Leader?”

One analyst noted: “When George Galloway won his famous by-election victories he often adapted to social conservative views among various communities… The Greens have proved you can beat Reform and Labour with quite radical, progressive policies.”

Starmer’s letter to his MPs added: “”The Greens may have won here, but they simply do not have the resources, the activist base or the local knowledge to replicate this victory across the country.”  Labour MPs reacted with dismay and anger, believing that such a statement could actually help the Greens’ fundraising efforts.

Ian Byrne MP labelled the leadership’s response “appalling”. Former Corbyn Manifesto-writer Andrew Fisher was withering: “Starmer’s letter to Labour MPs should be cause enough for them to oust him.” He described the response as the “rancid politics of the gutter (counterproductive and delusional too).”

Starmer’s tone-deaf response to Labour losing one of its safest seats to a party to its left underlines two obvious points. The first is that, as the Caerphilly byelection indicated, Labour can be beaten by a party to its left – and will be, unless government policies change.

The second is this: the time for hoping Starmer might change course is long past. He shows no signs of doing so. He has to go. The problem is that no contender wants to step forward now, take over and own what will be disastrous local election results in May. So it seems we will have to lose scores. Perhaps hundreds, of council seats first before anyone in the parliamentary Party will put country ahead of career and end the misery.

Restore Labour Democracy! Five union General Secretaries and two dozen Labour MPs launched a statement this month to Restore Labour Democracy. You can sign it here.

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