Zack Polanski announces plans to fight byelection in Keir Starmer’s old seat

Zack Polanski will seek to stand as a candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection, he has announced.

The leader of the Green party in England and Wales told the Camden New Journal on Thursday he would “stand up for people struggling to pay their bills” if he was elected as the representative for the area, which became vacant when Keir Starmer announced he was standing down as an MP.

In an effort to stave off accusations he was parachuting himself into the seat, Polanski said he had lived and worked in “this community” over many years. “I know it well and I love it. It represents so many of the things that make London so special. I am so excited by the prospect of representing this place in parliament,” he said.

Local Green party members will have the final say on the selected candidate, but the Guardian understands that they are supportive of Polanski running, and that there is no clear local activist with significant support expected to oppose him.

The Green leader, who has led the party to record election results in Camden – the local authority that covers the constituency – and across the country, already represents the area as a city-wide member of the London Assembly. “Holborn and St Pancras has everything that’s the best of our country and so much potential – but for too long now it’s been held back by governments who have failed to make the changes to improve people’s lives.”

Polanski said he was confident that the Greens could win the seat. Holborn and St Pancras has traditionally been viewed as a Labour stronghold, but the Greens have gained ground there over the last year.

“We know that the Greens can win here, and by electing me, voters will have someone who will always fight their corner – never scared of big donors or the party whip,” said Polanski. “Too often Labour has stood up for corporations and big money. I will stand up for people struggling to pay their bills.”

Adding that the byelection was a chance for the community to “make history” by electing London’s first Green MP, Polanski emphasised that the contest would be a two-dog fight between Labour and the Greens.

“We know that people are struggling – that the things we used to afford are increasingly out of reach – and this is a chance to send a very clear message that we won’t sit by as we get poorer and extreme wealth is concentrated at the very top,” he said.

The Greens are likely to pose the greatest threat in the byelection to Labour, which has held the central London constituency continuously since the seat was created in 1983, winning at least 40% of the vote at every election.

Only two Labour MPs have ever represented Holborn and St Pancras: the former health secretary Frank Dobson, from 1983 to 2015, then Starmer.

At the most recent general election in 2024, Starmer held the seat with 48.9% of the vote, ahead of the independent candidate Andrew Feinstein in second place on 18.9% and the Greens in third on 10.4%.

The Conservatives came fourth on 7.2%, Reform finished fifth on 6.1% and the Liberal Democrats were sixth on 5.8%.

The popularity of the independent and Green candidates at the 2024 contest, finishing second and third respectively, may have been partly owing to former Labour voters protesting against Starmer’s refusal to take a stronger position on Israel’s actions in Gaza in its war with Hamas.