Zack Polanski set to stand in crunch London by-election as Greens eye massive win after Starmer quitsExclusive: Greens plan to flood the Holborn and St Pancras constituency with activists as they seek historic win
Allow Exco Player content
This content is provided by Exco Player and may use cookies or similar technologies. Please click ‘Allow and Continue’ below to load the content.
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Reporter @nicholascecil|Rachael Burford, Chief Political Correspondent @RachaelBurford2 minutes ago
COMMENTS
Zack Polanski is likely to put himself forward as the Green Party’s candidate to challenge Labour in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, The Standard understands.
The Green leader is said to be considering his options but has previously strongly signalled that he would go for the north London seat if a vacancy arose, as it now has after Sir Keir Starmer quit as the local MP.
The Green’s selection process is being fast-tracked to pick a by-election contender.
A Green Party source told The Standard: “There is something quite iconic about Keir Starmer’s seat being challenged by the insurgent leader of the Green Party.
“Zack is weighing up his options at the moment.
“But the ultimate decision is up to the local party.”
Mr Polanski has already hit the streets of north London, out campaigning with Gorton and Denton Green MP Hannah Spencer in the Holborn area on Tuesday.
Nominations to be the party’s candidate at the by-election, expected to take place in October, are due to open shortly with selection due to have been completed by the end of next week.
Sir Keir Starmer who is stepping down as MP for Holborn and St PancrasPA
After ex-Prime Minister Sir Keir’s announcement, Mr Polanski said the by-election would be a “referendum on ending rip-off Britain” and signalled he may stand as he talked up “the next chapter for myself, the Greens and for people across the country”.
The Greens are planning to flood the north London constituency with activists.
Hundreds of poster boards will be put up by the party so individuals who may be considering voting Green for the first time can see that other people in their street or neighbourhood are planning to do so.
Mr Polanski said: “We will announce our candidate in due course and they will set out an exciting agenda for the deep change our country needs.
“I am proud of what I have achieved in the first year of my leadership of the Green Party but it is just the start.
“I am very excited for the next chapter for myself, for the Greens and for people across the country.”
Green Party leader Zack PolanskiPA Wire
Earlier this year, Mr Polanski said if there was a by-election in London: “I’ll almost certainly be running.”
Read More
When will the Holborn & St Pancras by-election take place to replace Keir Starmer?
Battle erupts for London seat hours after Starmer quits and Polanski mulls MP bid
‘I’ve had time to reflect’: Sir Keir Starmer’s Commons resignation statement in full
Rediscover your adventurous side on an exotic getaway
He added: “You could be looking to Hackney North, Hackney South, Walthamstow, Holborn and St Pancras, if Keir Starmer is going anywhere, and even, you know, Tower Hamlets.”
Green Party members in Holborn and St Pancras will decide who their candidate is but they will almost certainly pick Mr Polanski if he puts his name forward.
The Greens will seek to galvanise an anti-Labour vote as they did against Reform in the Gorton and Denton by-election where their candidate Ms Spencer won.
Labour won the London seat with a majority, of 11,572 at the 2024 general election.
Sir Keir gained 18,884 votes, with the Greens trailing in third place with 4,030.
Zack Polanski and Hannah Spencer, Green Party MP for Gorton & Denton, visit Levenshulme High Street for a local election campaign event on April 23, 2026 in ManchesterGetty
The Labour and Green totals are almost exactly the same as in Gorton and Denton where Mr Polanski’s party was able to pick up votes from previous backers of the Workers Party of Britain which did not put up a candidate.
In Holborn and St Pancras, independent Andrew Feinstein gained 7,312 votes and came second at the last general election.
Hinting at a willingness to do a deal with the Greens to deny Labour victory, he posted: “We must ensure that all progressive forces in Holborn & St. Pancras unite in order to deliver an MP who represents us & will work for us.”
The popularity of the independent and Green candidates at the 2024 contest may have been partly down to former Labour voters protesting at Sir Keir’s refusal to take a stronger position on Israel’s actions in Gaza in the war with Hamas.
Labour has held the inner London constituency continuously since its creation in 1983, winning at least 40% of the vote at every election.
Only two Labour MPs have ever represented Holborn & St Pancras: former Health Secretary Frank Dobson, from 1983 to 2015, then Sir Keir.
A number of London Labour councillors and former borough leaders have already, or are planning to, put their names forward for the seat.
Among them are Adam Hug, the ex-leader of Westminster council until the Tories seized back control of the town hall in May, former Camden council leader Nash Ali and chair of the Ilford South Constituency Labour Party Tanweer Khan.
MORE ABOUT