Zack Polanski has ruled out resigning as leader of the Green Party, hours after finishing second to Labour in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. The contest, triggered by the departure of former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer from the seat, delivered a sharply reshaped political map of a constituency that has rarely produced close results.
A leadership decision made quickly
Asked directly by Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig whether he intended to stay on, Polanski answered without hesitation: "Yes absolutely. That is what leaders do." He rejected any suggestion that contesting the seat had been a misstep, describing the campaign as a platform to set out Green positions on rent controls, the climate crisis and bringing Thames Water into public ownership. "I've really enjoyed the last few weeks," he said, framing the defeat as part of the normal rhythm of electoral politics rather than a personal setback.
The numbers explain why Polanski can make that case. The Green vote share rose by more than 22 percentage points to 32.81%, pushing the party well ahead of the Conservatives, Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats, all of whom saw their shares fall or stagnate. Labour's Sagal Abdi-Wali won with 45.17%, but her margin over the Greens was far tighter than the scale of Starmer's previous majorities in the seat.
Who replaces Starmer in Holborn and St Pancras
Abdi-Wali arrives at Westminster with a distinctive background. She leads Camden Council, a role she took on in May, becoming the borough's first black female leader. Before that she ran Camden's housing team, where she says she helped secure substantial investment in social housing. Born in Somalia, she came to the UK as a child refugee during the country's civil war, a biography she placed at the centre of her campaign and her victory speech.
She told Sky News her priority as MP would be tackling homelessness "almost immediately," alongside pushing for Thames Water to be brought into public ownership. Her campaign was also marked by a controversial intervention from Reform UK's Zia Yusuf, who questioned her candidacy by referencing her birthplace - comments condemned as racist by senior Labour figures including business secretary Jonathan Reynolds. Abdi-Wali said the episode left her "less upset, more just a bit sad," and used her acceptance speech to argue that "diversity is strength" and that her win represented bringing people together "rather than making people afraid of each other."
The conference motion shadowing Polanski's campaign
Polanski also faced questions about a motion passed at the Green Party's recent conference describing Zionism as racism, a decision that has drawn concern from Jewish community groups. He said his views had shifted from the Zionist household he grew up in, and that he now regards the war in Gaza as "an ongoing genocide." He stopped short of endorsing a specific resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, saying it was "not our role to decide" but insisting any state must guarantee equal rights regardless of faith. He rejected the idea that criticism of Israeli government policy should be equated with antisemitism, arguing that "blurring the lines actually makes us less safe," while maintaining that Jewish community safety and Palestinian rights "can have both and must have both."
What the result signals
By-elections rarely change governments, but they test party strategy under real conditions. The Greens' jump in vote share suggests Polanski's approach - contesting high-profile seats to air distinct policy positions rather than chasing incremental gains - found an audience in a constituency with a strong student and younger professional presence. For Labour, holding the seat matters symbolically given its association with the outgoing prime minister, even as the result shows the party's majority narrowing against a resurgent left-of-Labour challenger. For Reform UK and the Conservatives, the result offers little comfort, with both parties losing ground in a seat where they were never genuinely competitive.