London Holborn and St Pancras by-election underway as Labour faces Green challenge

Voting is under way in London's Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary seat in a by-election that is being watched as an early test of Labour support. The contest is centred on whether the party can hold a seat it has controlled continuously since 1983. It is also being framed as a serious challenge from the Green Party in one of the capital's most closely followed local races.

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The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, according to the supplied reporting. Labour's candidate is Sagal Abdi-Wali, a local council leader who arrived in Britain as a child refugee from Somalia in the 1990s. The Greens are represented by their leader, Zack Polanski, who is among the candidates seeking the seat.

The race is being described as a two-horse contest between Labour and the Greens, with thousands of activists from both parties reported to have campaigned in recent weeks. Polls are due to close at 10pm local time, with the result expected in the early hours of Friday. The other candidates include representatives from the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Reform UK, UKIP, the Communist League and several smaller parties and independents.

The vote matters because it is being read as a measure of whether Labour can recover support among left-leaning voters. The supplied reporting says the party's popularity among those voters fell sharply over the war in Gaza, while Green gains in London contributed to poor Labour local election results in May. The by-election therefore carries significance beyond one constituency, because it may indicate whether Labour can slow the Greens' momentum in urban areas.

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The contest also comes after a period of change at the top of Labour, with the supplied material saying Starmer's resignation on July 20 led to his replacement by Andy Burnham. The reporting says Burnham has since taken a tougher position on Israel and is seeking to present a more left-wing vision for the UK. In that context, the Holborn and St Pancras vote is being treated as a test of whether that repositioning can persuade voters who have drifted away from Labour.

What remains unclear until the count is how large the Green challenge will be and whether Labour can retain the seat with a comfortable margin. The result is expected overnight, and it will be watched for what it suggests about voter sentiment in London and among left-leaning electors more broadly. The outcome may also shape how both parties approach future contests in the capital.

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