London: A simple message about the cost of living has shown why Hannah Spencer, a plumber who left school at 16, triumphed for the Greens at a byelection that has rocked British politics.
Spencer, 34, spoke for struggling families in a victory speech that tapped into the deep frustration that Britain is broken, but she did it with an appeal from the left rather than a lunge to the right.
“I didn’t grow up wanting to be a politician,” she said. “I’m a plumber, and two weeks ago, during all this, I also qualified as a plasterer because even in chaos, even under pressure, I get things done.
“I am no different to every single person here in this constituency: I work hard, that is what we do, except things have changed a lot over the last few decades.
“Because working hard used to get you something. It got you a house, a nice life, holidays, it got you somewhere. But now, working hard, what does that get you?
“Because talk to anyone here and they will tell you the people who work hard … can’t put food on the table, can’t get their kids school uniforms, can’t put their heating on, can’t live off the pension they worked hard to save for, can’t even begin to dream about ever having a holiday, ever, because life has changed.
“Instead of working for a nice life, we’re working to line the pockets of billionaires. We are being bled dry. And I don’t think it’s extreme or radical to think working hard should get you a nice life.”
That is how she trounced the Labour government, led by the bland and embattled Keir Starmer, and infuriated the right-wing Reform UK party, led by the talkative but untested Nigel Farage.
Reform UK were so angry at being beaten that Farage blamed dirty tactics for the defeat. The argument centres on claims of “family voting” in which husbands tell wives how to vote – an illegal but often unprovable practice. This argument took off in the hours after the polls closed, especially among conservatives who linked family voting to ethnic communities.
“This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating,” said Farage.
In fact, the result simply showed that Farage is yet to convince enough voters to swing hard enough to the right to put him in power. Reform UK has strong showings in the national opinion polls, but it could not win a local campaign when it counted.
The territory at this byelection was a disadvantaged part of Greater Manchester where 57 per cent of the population is white and 27 per cent is Asian, with 9 per cent black. The electorate, Gorton and Denton, is the face of a changing Britain.
The community is 39 per cent Christian and 28 per cent Muslim, according to the Office of National Statistics. By ONS standards, a daunting 61.5 per cent are considered deprived in some way, such as income or housing.
Spencer campaigned on the need to fix basic services, lift wages, act on social problems with the drug trade and invest in the National Health Service – their iconic precursor to Medicare.
She also walked through communities each day with a big smile, bright clothes and her four greyhounds. She was an antidote to the anodyne political class: she dismissed the “posh boys” who go from Oxford and Cambridge into parliament in Westminster.
When right-wing critics challenged her working-class credentials, she shot back in an interview with The New Statesman: “I’ve been a plumber for nearly 20 years. What do they want, to see a toilet I’ve fixed?”
The Greens knew voters were aware of their stance on climate and Gaza, so they campaigned on the cost of living. In an area with conservative social views, Spencer made sure voters knew she did not want to legalise drugs.
“We’re really clear that we want to regulate drugs,” she said in The Manchester Evening News. “This drug law that’s been in place for 60 years isn’t working. People can already buy Class A drugs on the street. Children can already access these things.
“We’re saying we want to make it harder for people to access it, and we want to remove the criminal networks that have their greasy mitts in our communities.”
Labour was the biggest loser in Gorton and Denton, an area it has held for decades. It got only 25.4 per cent of vote on Thursday, down from 50.8 per cent at the general election in 2024, which was down from the previous election.
The Greens leapt ahead to gain 40.7 per cent, compared to 13.2 per cent less than two years ago. The disaffection with the government is palpable.
Reform increased its support, but not enough. It gained 28.7 per cent: more than Labour, but well behind the Greens.
The British media has gone into convulsions over the result. The swing against the government is dramatic – as happens in byelections in the UK, just as it does in Australia.
Conservatives declare that Starmer is doomed, but he was already seen as a dead man walking by many observers. His big chance to save his leadership comes at the elections in Scotland and Wales in early May, which will be a much bigger test of Labour’s support.
There is no way to extrapolate these results to the country as a whole. Only 47.6 per cent of voters turned out to cast a ballot.
A big problem for Farage was that his candidate, Matt Goodwin, was a cardboard cut-out from Reform central: busy attacking the woke agenda, active on X and always available for right-wing television channels. But he did not come from the Manchester area – he was raised by a single mother in Hertfordshire – and lacked a personal story that voters could relate to. He was a professor of politics at Kent University before shifting to conservative TV and then Reform.
Labour struggled even when it chose a local councillor, Angeliki Stogia, as its candidate. Stogia talked about standing up for ordinary workers, but she did not cut through. Everyone knew she was only chosen because Starmer and his allies blocked the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, from running.
So the Labour campaign had a permanent weakness. It highlighted the fear in the Starmer camp about Burnham, a potential leadership challenger, returning to parliament and standing up to the prime minister.
Voters, of course, usually want an MP who will stand up to a prime minister. With Hannah Spencer’s victory, it looks like they just chose one.
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David Crowe is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
