UK PM Burnham's Labour fends off left-wing Greens in local election

LONDON: Andy Burnham’s Labour Party won an election for the parliamentary seat vacated ​by former leader Keir Starmer on Friday, fending off a ‌strong challenge from the left-wing Green Party in a boost for the British prime minister.

Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, the leader of the local ​council, won the by-election in the central London constituency ​of Holborn and St Pancras with 12,292 votes, ⁠compared with 8,928 for Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader.

Labour ​had been widely expected to hold the seat, as Burnham seeks to repair ​his party’s damaged appeal among core voters in big cities after two bruising years in government under Starmer.

While Labour’s main rival in national polls ​is currently the populist Reform Party, the governing party ​is seeking to shore up support among left-leaning voters who had turned to ‌the ⁠Greens before a national vote due in mid-2029.

The result will be a blow to Polanski, a 43-year-old former actor and hypnotherapist, who has promised to make his party “an eco-populist” movement ​and draw support ​away from Labour — ⁠a strategy that had been working until Burnham came to power.

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Abdi-Wali paid tribute to Starmer in her ​victory speech and said she wanted to work ​with ⁠Burnham on issues such as housing.

“We have a responsibility to defend what we’ve built and pass it on,” she said. “Throughout our campaign, ⁠we ​chose hope, and the people of ​Holborn and St Pancras chose it with us. And now it’s time to ​deliver.”