Labour kept the Holborn and St Pancras constituency on Thursday night as Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali won the by-election triggered by Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation, defeating Green Party leader Zack Polanski with a majority of 3,364 votes in a contest that tested both parties’ coalitions in one of the capital’s most progressive boroughs.
Abdi-Wali took 12,292 votes, or about 45 percent of the ballot, according to Camden’s official count. Polanski finished second with 8,928 votes, roughly 33 percent. The result leaves Labour in possession of a seat the party has held since the constituency was created in 1983, first under Frank Dobson and then Starmer for eleven years before he stepped down as prime minister.
What the swing signals
Electoral data published alongside the declaration showed a 13 percentage-point swing from Labour to the Greens compared with the last general election. That is a substantial move in a seat Labour has treated as a fortress, and Green officials framed it as proof their agenda—rent controls, water company reform, and sharper climate positioning—has traction even when they fall short on seat count.
Polanski told supporters he would remain party leader, saying leaders “don’t walk away when things get difficult.” The by-election unfolded during a turbulent week for the Greens after members backed a motion describing Zionism as racism, a stance Polanski has tried to distance himself from while fending off calls for his resignation.
How the also-rans placed
The Conservative candidate placed third, with Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats trailing further back in a field shaped by low turnout typical of mid-parliament by-elections. Labour’s campaign leaned on Abdi-Wali’s record running Camden and on continuity with Starmer’s local ties, while the Greens argued the government’s climate and housing record had opened space for a protest vote that could still flip seats under the right conditions.
Abdi-Wali’s victory does not alter the government’s Commons majority, but it closes a politically sensitive vacancy in Starmer’s former backyard weeks before broader questions about Labour’s direction and Green competition in urban England resurface in Westminster. Party strategists on both sides will now parse whether the swing is a one-off protest or the leading edge of tighter contests in London and university towns at the next national vote.
What happens next in Camden
Abdi-Wali is expected to take her seat when Parliament returns, giving Labour a fresh face in a constituency that mixes social-housing estates, university campuses and high-value central London property. Local Greens said before the count that they had already treated a narrow loss as a moral victory; Labour aides countered that holding the seat with a five-figure majority still demonstrates the party’s ability to mobilize its base when leadership transitions dominate the news cycle.
Polanski’s decision to stay on as Green leader means the by-election result will be read as a verdict on his handling of internal party disputes as much as on housing or climate policy. For Downing Street, the immediate priority is simpler: avoid another high-profile loss in a safe seat while managing the post-Starmer succession narrative that made this contest national news in the first place.