The New Statesman

The Green Party has secured a historic first by-election win, taking the seat of Gorton and Denton from Right Under Labor.

I'm Megan Kenyon and you're listening to Daily Politics from The New Statesman.

I'm joined now by our senior data journalist Ben Walker to take us through the numbers.

Ben, can you talk me through the result?

So this is a watershed moment, I think, for the future of the British political left.

This is a watershed moment for the so-called main two parties,

the right of which has already been under challenge by reform, the win

in Gorton and Denton for the Greens. Over and above, by the way, what Britain predicts

was saying if the Greens were seen as the tactical voting choice. We had the Greens on course

38%. They got 41, you know, for Labor as well to put up a

respectable share. And for reform, interestingly, to underperform what was expected of them. They were

forecast to get 30, 33%. For them to get 28%. That's really interesting. This is a bolt out of the blue for the British left.

This is quite clearly a threat, I suppose.

The deaf knell, the deaf rattle, if you want to call it that, for the Labour Party's assumption

as the preeminent party of the left.

There is doubt now on the Labour Party's viability in so many seats

up and down the land. And all of this, I think it's fair to say, was manifested because the Labour

Party didn't want Andy Burnham to be its campaign in this by-election.

Ben, as a Labour councillor, what do you think this means for labour? What do you think

they need to do next? For labour, this could be absolutely calamitous. We just do not know. I mean,

this morning, obviously, as a Labour counsellor, traumatised, and you Angoliki personally,

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