Workers Party of Britain not contesting by-election

The Workers Party of Britain has said it has taken the "difficult decision" not to contest the Gorton and Denton by-election.

The party, led by George Galloway, said it was "in the best interests of the working-class" to withdraw from the election.

In a statement, it said it would not choose a candidate for the Greater Manchester seat from the four it had been considering.

At the general election in July 2024, Galloway's party got 10.3% of the vote and came fourth.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, who said he was stepping down for health reasons that had been aggravated in the last year by the fall-out from leaked messages from a controversial WhatsApp group.

Gwynne secured 50.8% of the vote, enough for a majority of more than 13,000 ahead of Reform UK (14.1%). The Greens, on 13.2%, came third.

The Conservatives (7.9%) and Liberal Democrats (3.8%) came in fifth and sixth respectively.

In a statement, the Workers Party of Britain said Labour had "woefully failed the people of the constituency".

The party claimed Labour was the "enemy of the British people", adding that British people had become "poorer" while the government spent money on "a wasteful war" in Ukraine. It also criticised the planned introduction of digital ID cards.

It added: "This by-election was triggered by Labour in an attempt to replace Starmer with a new acceptable face.

"Whoever wins, if Labour lose, Starmer must resign."

A full list of candidates for Gorton and Denton can be found here and will be updated as others are declared.

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