Green Party leader Zack Polanski has said he wants to stand in the by-election in Holborn and St Pancras, the north London seat vacated by Sir Keir Starmer, telling the local weekly Camden New Journal in an interview published on Thursday that he is ready to fight the contest.
Polanski, a London Assembly member who has never sat in the Commons, is not yet the Green candidate. Members of the local party have still to hold a selection, and a Green Party spokesperson told the JC that nominations would open soon and a candidate would be chosen by the end of next week.
The declaration sets up a contest in a seat Labour has held since it was created in 1983, and the first electoral test of Andy Burnham's premiership. It follows the Greens' gain of Gorton and Denton from Labour in February, when Hannah Spencer won a majority of 4,402 on a 12-point margin, according to the parliamentary election results record. The Greens have never won a Westminster seat in London.
"I have lived and worked in this community over many years, I know it well and I love it," Polanski told the Camden New Journal. He said he was "so excited by the prospect of representing this place in Parliament", and characterised the coming contest as "a clear fight between Labour and the Green Party."
The vacancy arises from Starmer's departure from the Commons on 1 September, less than two months after he left Downing Street. An HM Treasury notice published that day stated: "The Chancellor of the Exchequer has this day appointed Sir Keir Starmer to be Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern" — the procedural device by which an MP resigns. The parliamentary record shows the seat was last held by Starmer between 4 July 2024 and 1 September 2026.
In a statement on X, Starmer said: "I have decided that now is the right time to step down as MP for Holborn and St Pancras and hand the baton over to a successor". Downing Street had said after he ceased to be prime minister that he would serve out the remainder of his term.
Starmer held the seat in July 2024 with 18,884 votes, or 48.9 per cent, a majority of 11,572 on a turnout of 54.1 per cent, parliament's results service records. The Green candidate, Alex Stansell, came fourth with 4,030 votes, or 10.4 per cent. The independent Andrew Feinstein was second with 7,312 votes.
Feinstein has told the New Statesman he is "very sadly not in a position to stand this time round". That report has not been carried elsewhere.
Accounts of the mood inside the local Green party diverge. The Guardian reported that local members had backed Polanski to be the candidate, and one Green source told the JC that "everyone in the party is behind him running". The BBC has referred to reports of splits among local Green activists, some of whom are said to favour a pro-Gaza candidate, while the New Statesman has reported the party is split over his candidacy. Those accounts rest on unnamed members and leaked messages.
Labour opened applications for its nomination on Tuesday, with a deadline of noon on 4 September and a selection meeting on 9 September, according to a timetable on the party's website reported by PA. The Telegraph has named the Camden council leader, Sagal Abdi-Wali, as the front-runner; no candidate has been confirmed.
No polling day has been set. The by-election must be held between 21 and 27 working days after the writ is issued, a step that has not yet been taken.
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