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Polanski says Starmer 'lied to the British public' and accuses Labour of running 'smear' campaign after by-election win

The Greens contacted police over Labour's election strategy.

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Hannah Spencer was greeted by Zack Polanski following the win.
Hannah Spencer was greeted by Zack Polanski following the win. Picture: Alamy

By Alex Storey

Zack Polanski has accused Labour of lying to the British public during a "smear campaign" following the Green Party's historic Gorton and Denton by-election win.

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Hannah Spencer clinched the Greater Manchester seat with 14,980 votes overnight on Friday - a majority of 4,402 ahead of Reform UK's Matt Goodwin who came second with 10,578.

Reacting to the win, Polanski slammed Labour and accused them of lying and "debasing democracy," and confirmed the party has contacted police over their campaign strategy.

He said: "It's been a horrendous campaign in so many ways and I wouldn't point to Reform.

"The first people I'd speak to is the Labour Government. First of all, they created a tactical voting website on the EVA poll and delivered them through letterboxes, that's just lying.

Read more: Plumber turned Green MP Hannah Spencer hails by-election victory as she calls out scapegoating of communities

Read more: Row erupts after Kemi Badenoch claims Labour 'being called Paedo Defenders Party'

Hannah Spencer wins Gorton and Denton by-election for the Green Party.
Hannah Spencer wins Gorton and Denton by-election for the Green Party. Picture: Alamy

"There's no partial spin word for that. They lied to the British public. They also had a van going round which we've reported to the police with Mein and Hannah's faces on it, reporting with all sorts of smears.

"Now that's all water under the bridge because we won the election anyway.

"But we have a Prime Minister of this country that was running a campaign, whether implicitly or explicitly, where there were those kind of lies going on that is so debasing to politics, to diplomacy and to democracy."

LBC has contacted Greater Manchester Police for comment.

The win marks the Green's first-ever parliamentary by-election win, with Spencer becoming the party's fifth MP, in a result which mounts pressure on Sir Keir's premiership, with Labour coming in third.

The by-election sparked a row overnight amid concerns over "concerningly high levels of family voting" in the area.

Official election observers, Democracy Volunteers, said they attended 22 of the 45 polling stations in the constituency on Thursday, and claimed to have witnessed family voting in 15 locations.

But Manchester City Council has hit back at the organisation, saying it has received no reports of "undue influence on voters".

Sir Keir Starmer.
The result comes as a blow for Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party, who slumped to third. Picture: Alamy

Family voting is an illegal practice where two voters either confer, collude or direct each other on voting and can involve husbands telling their wives how to vote.

Polanski added: "It's absolutely a phenomenal victory both for Gorton and Denton, but frankly, the entire country.

"This was our 127th target seat. So suddenly there's no area in England and Wales that's a no go area for the Green Party.

"For years we've heard this idea of wasted votes, but tonight Hannah Spencer has proven that we can both stop this failing Labour government and this awful Reform Party, and actually we can offer hope and a plan, a plan to lower people's bills, protect the National Health Service, rebuild our public services.

"I can't wait for Han Spencer to get to work."

Asked why he thinks Spencer appealed to the people of Gorton and Denton, Polanksi said: "I think she's genuinely just really, really authentic.

"She's just a woman who got into politics a little bit later, so she'd had real jobs.

"She speaks in every moment, whether she's in front of a camera or in private life. She speaks how she feels, she speaks authentically. And when she sees injustice, she challenges it."

Speaking to LBC News, chair of the Green Party, Baroness Jenny Jones, admitted she was in tears when the result came in.

The former Deputy London Mayor told Chris Golds on Friday morning: "It's quite emotional actually.

"I cried when she won. It was spectacular, it's fantastic. She's going to be a brilliant MP and we'll be welcoming her to the House of Parliament on Monday."

Baroness Jones added: "I suppose it was a tough fight, a three-way fight with a very well-established political party, the Labour Party, who'd held the seat before for decades and decades and against a sort upcoming party that are now reformed that I now think might have peaked.

"Because what we did in the election, we actually talked about a completely different sort of politics. We talked about politics of hope and actually lifting people out of poverty concern about things like clean air and fly tipping and things that matter to the, to the local people.

"The Reform message was, was much more hate-filled. And although people wanted change, which is why they clearly voted in three way contest, I think that our policies reverberated."