Zarah Sultana endorses Hannah Spencer, Green Party candidate at the Gorton & Denton by-election.
This blog also endorses Hannah Spencer, Green Party candidate at the Gorton & Denton by-election.
Manchester by-election a battle ‘for the soul of our country’
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/manchester-election-battle-soul-our-country
GB News presenter Matthew Goodwin speaking at the Reform UK annual conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, September 5, 2025…
Green leader Zack Polanski, whose party is in a race with Reform to win the Labour-held seat, said Goodwin’s candidacy was an insult to the constituency.
Mr Goodwin had “a track record of anti-Muslim bigotry,” Mr Polanski said, terming the campaign a battle “for the soul of our country.”
The advent of Mr Goodwin further enflamed the by-election, already at the centre of controversy after Keir Starmer acted to block popular Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from standing for the seat, which Labour held in 2024 with a 13,000 majority.
The Reform candidate, once a liberal academic before journeying to the far right, has attracted particular controversy for claiming that being born in Britain does not necessarily make someone British.
People from black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds were not always British, he said: “It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.”
He has declined to qualify that claim, despite seeking election in a seat in which 44 per cent of voters identify as from an ethnic minority.
The battle for the soul of the Labour Party also heated up, with new Unison leader Andrea Egan and former party chair Ian Lavery MP both slamming Sir Keir’s leadership.
Ms Egan, writing in Tribune, warned that “the first far-right government in our history is a very real prospect” — a prospect she described as “existential” for trade unionists and democrats.
“But from witnessing the recent behaviour of Labour’s ruling faction, you wouldn’t know it. Spearheaded from Downing Street, this narrow Westminster grouping often gives the impression it would rather hand the country over to Farage and put the labour movement’s survival on the line than consider any change in policy direction or lose the slightest control over the party machine.”
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Original article is at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/manchester-election-battle-soul-our-country
