Green party concedes in Holborn and St Pancras byelection as result imminent – UK politics live

Counting is currently under way in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection in north London, where voters are choosing a replacement for former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Starmer announced his decision to step down as an MP in September after being ousted from No 10 by Andy Burnham.

Camden council has said the result is expected to be called between 2:30-4am UK time.

We’ll bring you the latest developments as we get them.

Key events

• 6m ago

  Who are the candidates?

• 12m ago

  Counting under way in Holborn and St Pancras byelection

A quick reminder of the byelection candidates in Holborn and St Pancras:

• Labour – Sagal Abdi-Wali

• Green party – Zack Polanski

• Conservative party – Ewan Cameron

• Reform UK – Peter Newman

• Liberal Democrats – Patrick Thomas Stillman

• Restore Britain – Tyler Kurtis Johnson

• Workers party – George Galloway

• Rejoin EU – Briony Anne Lonbay Kapoor

• Climate party – Clare Fischer

• UK Voice – Ketankumar Pipaliya

• Ukip – Ben Walker

• Monster Raving Loony party – Barmy Brunch

• Communist League – Jonathan Silberman

• Christian Peoples Alliance – Helen Spiby-Vann

• Independent – Tom Darwood

Holborn and St Pancras is, under normal circumstances, a Labour stronghold.

Keir Starmer won it with a majority of 11,500 at the 2024 general election despite strong challenges from the Greens and a leftwing independent candidate, who is not standing again and has endorsed Zack Polanski. In 2019 Starmer won by nearly 28,000 votes.

Polanski has run a highly energetic campaign. He has mobilised a large numbers of supporters to knock on doors, mimicking February’s Gorton and Denton byelection, where the Greens overcame an even bigger Labour majority to take the seat.

However, the political landscape has changed. Shortly after Gorton and Denton, YouGov polling put the Greens briefly above Labour, on a peak of 21%. The most recent equivalent had Polanksi’s party on 11%, 16 points behind Labour.

Burnham, who succeeded Starmer as prime minister in July, is seen as having revitalised Labour, and used his speech at the party’s annual conference last month to set out a more ambitious and left-leaning collection of policies.

Polanski’s fortunes, in contrast, appear to have declined, especially since last weekend’s Green party conference where a vote by members to adopt a policy equating Zionism with racism and calling for Israel to be replaced by a single Palestinian state prompted condemnation and splits in the party.

Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.

Counting is currently under way in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection in north London, where voters are choosing a replacement for former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Starmer announced his decision to step down as an MP in September after being ousted from No 10 by Andy Burnham.

Camden council has said the result is expected to be called between 2:30-4am UK time.