THE Stroud MP has spoken of his frustrations after the Green Party's historic victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
The Green Party won its first ever parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton, dealing a bitter blow to Sir Keir Starmer.
Labour’s defeat, trailing in third behind Zack Polanski’s Greens and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the previously rock-solid Greater Manchester constituency, will pile pressure on the Prime Minister.
Hannah Spencer, a councillor and plumber, emerged victorious for the Greens, with 14,980 votes and a majority of 4,402 votes.
Reform UK’s candidate Matt Goodwin got 10,578 votes, with Labour’s Angeliki Stogia trailing on 9,364, down from 18,555 in the 2024 general election, when the turnout was similarly high.
Stroud MP Simon Opher, who represents Labour, said that people are crying out for change, his party have 'made too many mistakes' and voters fee; 'intensely frustrated'.
Dr Opher said: "The result in Gorton and Denton is clearly a good result for the Green Party and we need to congratulate them and Hannah Spencer.
"We also need to thank our candidate, Angeliki, and all those Labour activists who worked so hard on the campaign.
"The result shows that people are crying out for change.
"The Conservatives left the country in a terrible mess, and people feel intensely frustrated. Labour promised change at the last election and whilst we have made considerable progress, the pace of delivery has been too slow.
"We have also made too many mistakes and been too influenced by the vested interests of big business and corporations.
"I think that we have a lot to learn. Radical politics is popular and negative campaigning demeans us and undermines our message.
"As a Labour MP I remain deeply frustrated. We had the opportunity to stand a popular candidate, Andy Burnham, who was capable of articulating the frustration people feel, while making the case for Labour, but was blocked from standing.
"For the past year, I have been making the argument that our party is losing more votes to our left than our right – this has now been borne out with the by-election result. We need to properly tax the wealthy to deliver the change we need. We are doing great work in the NHS, education, bringing the railways and buses back into public ownership, improving pay and conditions, and so much more - but these wins get lost in the noise around the mistakes that are made.
"Our values must be reflected in foreign policy. For example, I have long campaigned against the deliberate targeting of health workers in Gaza and the Middle East. From March 1st, Israel will ban dozens of aid agencies. We should use our Governments’ leverage, including sanctions, to prevent further devastation.
"We need to introduce a fairer voting system; we run the risk of splintering the left of centre vote and handing Reform a majority. The government must use the upcoming Representation of the People Bill to review our electoral system – it is simply not fit for purpose in our multi-party system.
"We still have the opportunity to profoundly change this country for the better – but we need to take it and we need to take it now. "
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Labour’s loss was a “very disappointing result” but vowed to “keep on fighting”.
