2026 Holborn and St Pancras by-election
UK parliamentary by-election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A by-election for the United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of Holborn and St Pancras in London is due to be held on 8 October 2026,[1] following the resignation from the House of Commons of former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer on 1 September 2026.[2][3]
8 October 2026
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Holborn and St Pancras constituency | |||
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Boundary of the Holborn and St Pancras constituency in Greater London | |||
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Background
The seat is located in Inner London, in the London Borough of Camden and includes Camden Town itself. Keir Starmer was first elected for Holborn and St Pancras in the 2015 general election. He became leader of the Labour Party in 2020, and led the party to a landslide victory at the 2024 general election. Starmer resigned as prime minister in 2026 and was replaced by the former mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. On 1 September 2026, Starmer announced to the Camden New Journal his intention to stand down as a member of parliament.[3] The same day, he was formally appointed as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, in order to vacate the seat.[4]
The Guardian reported that the seat was likely to be targeted by the Green Party, which finished third there at the 2024 general election with 10.4 per cent of the vote, behind independent candidate Andrew Feinstein in second place.[5] The party's leader, Zack Polanski, had previously stated, while Starmer was still PM, that he was "tempted" to challenge him in the seat.[6]
In the 2026 Camden London Borough Council election, the Labour Party won the most votes (32.8%), with the Green Party in second place (27.1%),[7] though the Greens stood down in two wards for the Camden People's Alliance, a local left-wing party founded by Feinstein.[8][9]
Candidates
The Statement of Persons Nominated was published on 15 September.[10] A total of 15 candidates are standing in the by-election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Sagal Abdi-Wali | ||||
| Monster Raving Loony | Barmy Brunch | ||||
| Conservative | Ewan Cameron | ||||
| No description[a] | Tom Darwood | ||||
| Climate | Clare Fischer | ||||
| Workers Party | George Galloway | ||||
| Restore | Tyler Johnson | ||||
| Rejoin EU | Briony Kapoor | ||||
| Reform | Peter Newman | ||||
| UK Voice | Ketankumar Pipaliya | ||||
| Green | Zack Polanski | ||||
| Communist League | Jonathan Silberman | ||||
| CPA | Helen Spiby-Vann | ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Patrick Stillman | ||||
| UKIP | Ben Walker | ||||
Green Party
On 3 September, following speculation,[12] Green Party leader Zack Polanski announced his intention to stand in the by-election. Polanski said that he will remain as the party leader regardless of the outcome of the by-election.[13] On 7 September, Hamza Chowdhury, a Camden councillor for Holborn and Covent Garden ward, announced he would put himself forward for selection to be the party's candidate. He was nominated by 6 of the 10 other Green councillors in Camden,[14] who did so to give party members a choice as opposed to favouring Chowdhury over Polanski.[15][16] Following a formal selection meeting on 10 September, it was announced on 11 September that Polanski had been voted to be the party's candidate by members of the Camden Green Party.[17][18][19]
Labour Party
Applications for the Labour Party candidacy were due by 4 September,[20] and the party received 96 applications.[21] On 7 September, the party announced a shortlist of three candidates, all Labour councillors on Camden Borough Council: Sagal Abdi-Wali (who is also the leader of the council), Camron Aref-Adib, and Nasrine Djemai.[22][23] Abdi-Wali, an ally of Keir Starmer,[24] was selected as the candidate at a hustings meeting on 9 September.[25] The Middle East Eye has reported that Abdi-Wali "is unpopular among local pro-Palestine activists because Camden council has resisted calls to divest from companies allegedly complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide".[26]
Other candidates
On 14 September, the Conservative Party announced Ewan Cameron, who was a Camden councillor for Belsize ward from 1998 to 2002, as its candidate.[27]
On 14 September, the Liberal Democrats announced Patrick Stillman, a Camden councillor for West Hampstead ward, as their candidate.[28]
On 14 September, Reform UK announced Pete Newman, a former Metropolitan Police detective, as their candidate.[29]
On 14 September, Workers Party of Britain leader George Galloway stated on his podcast The Mother of All Talk Shows that he would stand "unless the Greens make an offer we can't refuse". At the time of announcement, Galloway was still living in "self-imposed exile" in Moscow, Russia,[30] following his detention by counter-terrorism police in late 2025.[31] He confirmed later that day that he would stand as the Workers Party candidate.[32][33] Galloway has previously served as an MP seven times for five different constituencies, most recently for Rochdale for three months in 2024 following a by-election.[33] Chris Williamson, a former MP, resigned as deputy leader of the Workers Party in protest at Galloway's decision to stand, and called for him to support Polanski's candidacy.[32] James Giles, who was Galloway's Chief of Staff when he was the MP for Rochdale, also endorsed Polanski.[34] By 22 September, Galloway relocated from Moscow to South Africa to start a political tour; he claimed he will return to the UK when the Home Office confirms that he will not be detained upon arrival.[35]
Restore Britain announced Tyler Johnson, a London-based lawyer, as its candidate.[33] He is legal counsel for CNOOC International, whose parent firm, China National Offshore Oil Corporation,[36] was prohibited from receiving any US investment in 2021.[37][36] On Johnson's nomination forms, the proposer was Patrick McGinnis, leader of the National Housing Party UK and candidate for that party in a 2022 Camden Council by-election, who has said "Jewish ideas are destroying our country".[38]
Rejoin EU announced Briony Kapoor, who previously served two terms as an independent town councillor in Folkestone and Hythe, as its candidate.[33]
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party selected Barmy Brunch, who previously stood in the 2024 general election in the North East Somerset and Hanham constituency, as its candidate.[39]
Ketankumar Pipaliya, leader of UK Voice, is standing in the by-election, having previously stood in the last United Kingdom by-election, the 2026 Clacton by-election. Another by-election candidate, Tom Darwood, also stood in the Clacton by-election, under the pseudonym Joseph 77.[40]
Declined to stand
Andrew Feinstein, who came second to Starmer standing as an independent in 2024, said in an interview with Novara Media in July 2026 that he "didn't want it to be [him]" replacing Starmer, but said whoever did replace Starmer should be "the antithesis of Starmer in every possible way".[41] When the by-election was announced, Feinstein declined to stand, stating that he was "not in a position" to contest the seat again.[42]
Former foreign secretary David Miliband was suggested as a possible Labour candidate, but declined to contest the seat.[43]
Novelty candidate Count Binface announced on social media that he had declined to stand in the by-election.[44]
Campaign
The by-election is the first of Andy Burnham's premiership, with some Labour figures describing it as a test of how much he has "nullified the threat from the Green Party" in the event of calling an early general election.[45]
On 2 September, Zia Yusuf, Reform UK's spokesperson for home affairs, criticised the possible choice of Sagal Abdi-Wali as the Labour candidate (prior to her selection) as she was born in Somalia.[46] His comments were criticised as racist by political figures from multiple parties,[47][48][better source needed] and criticised by Reform UK figure Nadine Dorries as "nasty".[47] Reform MP Robert Jenrick defended Yusuf's comments, saying they were not racist and suggesting that it was legitimate to question the loyalties of foreign-born candidates.[49][50]
The London Standard reported on 5 September that the Green Party had "knocked on nearly 1,500 doors in the first three days" since Keir Starmer's resignation, despite having not yet selected a candidate at the time.[51]
Andrew Feinstein has endorsed Polanski in the by-election.[13] The Camden People's Alliance has also endorsed Polanski after he signed up to the group's key pledges, including support for social housing, opposition to austerity, anti-racism, backing trade unions, and campaigning against the Gaza genocide.[30]
Polanski released campaign videos in Urdu and French, which were criticised by Conservative MP Katie Lam, who said "When candidates campaign in a foreign language ... [i]t makes it impossible to hold our would-be representatives to account. We must ban this practice".[52] Defending the videos, the Greens argued that "democracy does not discriminate by language spoken".[53] On 19 September, Polanski released another campaign video, this time in Bengali.[54]
On 19 September, an altercation took place in the constituency between Restore Britain campaigners, including Patrick McGinnis, and Stand Up to Racism campaigners.[38] A Stand Up to Racism campaigner punched a Restore Britain campaigner who was canvassing. She was then arrested.[55][56]
On 22 September, the Camden Muslim Network organised a campaign hustings at an art gallery in the constituency.[26] The only candidates to attend were Polanski and Patrick Stillman of the Liberal Democrats.[26] Organisers of the event told Middle East Eye that the Labour Party's campaign team had said that Abdi-Wali could not attend because of another commitment.[26]
Previous result
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Keir Starmer | 18,884 | 48.9 | −17.4 | |
| Independent | Andrew Feinstein | 7,312 | 18.9 | N/A | |
| Green | David Stansell | 4,030 | 10.4 | +6.4 | |
| Conservative | Mehreen Malik | 2,776 | 7.2 | −8.0 | |
| Reform | David Roberts | 2,371 | 6.1 | +4.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Charlie Clinton | 2,236 | 5.8 | −6.5 | |
| Independent | Wais Islam | 636 | 1.6 | N/A | |
| Monster Raving Loony | Nick the Incredible Flying Brick | 162 | 0.4 | N/A | |
| UKIP | John Poynton | 75 | 0.2 | −0.1 | |
| Socialist Equality | Tom Scripps | 61 | 0.2 | +0.1 | |
| Independent | Senthil Kumar | 40 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| No description | Bobby Smith | 19 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Majority | 11,572 | 30.0 | −21.1 | ||
| Turnout | 38,602 | 54.1 | −5.0 | ||
| Registered electors | 71,300 | ||||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||