Holborn and St Pancras by-election poses questions for Greens and Polanski’s future

By Ralph Reay

Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali has won the Parliamentary by-election for the North London seat of Holborn and St Pancras following the resignation of former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as MP. Abdi-Wali, the former leader of Camden Borough Council, faced a challenge from London Assembly member and Green Party leader Zack Polanski. 

This by-election was incredibly significant for the aspirations of Polanski and the Greens as they sought to gain a 6th MP following Hannah Spencer’s success in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year. The result - a Labour ‘Hold’ with 45.2% of the vote - is potentially damaging for Polanski and the future of the Greens, as despite gaining 32.8% of the vote, the result shows that Labour are able to fend off left-wing challenges in inner-city seats which would have seemed almost unthinkable at the height of Labour’s unpopularity in 2025. 

Holborn and St Pancras is a seat with favourable demographics for the Green Party, holding a sizeable young and diverse population, making it a key target for Polanski and his ‘ecosocialist’ movement. Polanski’s endorsement of 2024 left-wing independent candidate Andrew Feinstein (who received 18.9% of the vote in the 2024 General Election) further emphasises the way in which this by-election campaign is a considerable failure for Zack Polanski and reinforces the steady decline in popularity that he and his party have experienced within recent months.

Zack Polanski currently holds a net approval rating of -27, a far cry from that of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who currently sits at net +10.2 approval. Polanski’s popularity has been slipping since March 2026, whilst the Green Party currently sits at an average of 9.7% in the polls, a drastic fall from 16% in March 2026. 

The big question that this by-election posed was whether an ‘ecopopulist’ Green Party under Polanski could continue to be electorally successful with a popular Labour Party adopting more left-wing policy positions on issues such as Gaza and a National Care Service. Polanski adopted a range of tactics during the by-election campaign, including the publication of campaign videos in French and Urdu, which were met with widespread ridicule, as the 2021 census shows that fewerthan 2,500 people are native French speakers and approximately 139 are native Urdu speakers in the constituency. The videos also led to mockery from London Mayor Lord Sir Sadiq Khan, who, in a session of Mayoral Question Time on 17th September, answered Zack Polanski in Urdu, which led to laughter in the chamber. 

The big question that this by-election posed was whether an ‘ecopopulist’ Green Party under Polanski could continue to be electorally successful with a popular Labour Party adopting more left-wing policy positions on issues such as Gaza and a National Care Service

Towards the end of the campaign, Polanski and the Greens were rocked by controversy following the Green Party conference. Members had voted in favour of the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion by 1,022 votes to 813 votes, with the votes in favour representing just 0.4% of total membership. The motion defined Zionism as support for "an ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine to the exclusion and/or domination of the non-Jewish population" and declared ‘Zionism as Racism’ as it "privileges one ethnic group on the basis of the subjugation of others.” In response to the motion, many leading political figures criticised the party for adopting the motion and accused them of antisemitism. 

In Prime Ministers’ Questions on 14 October 2026, in response to a question regarding the motion and if the PM would be willing to enter any pact with the Greens, Prime Minister Burnham declared the motion as “wrong”, “antisemitic” and that “this side of the house [Labour] will have nothing to do with it”. This could be seen as an own goal for the Greens and Polanski, as Burnham recently announced plans for a potential Proportional Representation voting system to be implemented if Labour wins the next election, which could give the Greens their best chance of being a major power broker in UK politics. Yet, the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion makes this prospect virtually unworkable.

In particular, much of the recent criticism has centred around Polanski and what many see as a lack of leadership over the motion - with his position on the motion only becoming clear the morning after his Holborn and St Pancras by-election loss. Polanski stated that he would have voted against the motion, yet leading Green Party figures, including Green Party grandee and former Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas, spoke out against the motion and a lack of leadership from Polanski. Lucas stated on Newsnight that Zack Polanski “should have been there and he should have voted”. 

Frustrations from other ‘old-school’ Green Party figures are also reportedly brewing, including former leader Jonathan Bartley. Polanski’s shift of the Green Party may also provide challenges in the next election to the two seats won from the Conservatives in 2024, with MPs Ellie Chowns and former co-leader, Adrian Ramsey both at risk.

The Holborn and St Pancras by-election may have returned another Labour MP in a supposed ‘safe seat’ for the party but has certainly reignited questions over the future of the Greens under Polanski and whether the momentum behind them is beginning to dissipate. 

Regardless, by-elections often provide an integral snapshot of UK politics, and this by-election may well have reignited the ‘Battle for the Left’. 

Image: Bristol Green Party / Flickr