BRITAIN woke up to a political earthquake today as the Greens hoovered up thousands of Labour votes to snatch victory at the Gorton and Denton by-election.
In what had long been a traditional red stronghold, Sir Keir Starmer’s party was also beaten by Reform.
The result tells us plenty about where the country’s politics is heading — and it foreshadows a fight that will be replayed across swathes of constituencies at the next general election.
First, the PM’s career is back on the line.
Despite riding out a major wobble amid the Mandelson scandal, Labour backbenchers will now feel more emboldened than ever to call time on Starmer’s leadership.
They will argue the PM faces a far bigger threat from the left than the right — and that moves to curb immigration and crack down on benefits have ended up punishing the party.
Sir Keir’s critics will also point to the loss of thousands of Muslim votes as a warning sign: that Labour isn’t hardline enough on sectarian issues and failed to take a strong stand on Gaza.
The result will also lift the prospects of left-wing leadership rivals such as Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham, who will argue their more socialist approach would’ve stopped the party haemorrhaging support in inner-city areas.
Gorton and Denton also signals a serious cracking of Britain’s two-party politics.
The Tories, for instance, were nowhere to be seen during the campaign and barely scraped 600 votes — a cataclysmic result for the party.
Labour’s third-place finish, meanwhile, showed how readily voters will ditch the two main parties for alternatives, underlining deep frustration with the state of the country — and the political status quo.
While Reform seized a sizeable chunk of the vote, the result also underlined the power of anti-Nigel Farage tactical voting.
There is a huge coalition of voters ready to swing to whichever party they think is best placed to beat Reform.
And the by-election also shone a light on a sharp rise in sectarian voting.
Throughout the campaign, the Green Party leafleted near mosques and distributed flyers in Urdu.
They told Muslim voters to “Labour must be punished for Gaza”.
Expect a lot more of this campaigning style in seats with high Muslim populations from here on.
The by-election also showed that left-wing populism is emerging as a real force in British politics, as it has been on the right.
The Green Party hardly centred environmentalism during their campaign, instead breaking with tradition to focus on issues of immigration and the cost of living.
