British Election Shows the Consequences of Mass Migration

Last night, Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party suffered a devastating by-election loss to the far-left Green Party. In the historic Labour stronghold of Gorton and Denton, a largely impoverished and working-class constituency on the outskirts of Manchester, the prime minister’s candidate took third place with 25.4 percent of the vote — falling short of the right-wing Reform UK candidate, who took 28.7 percent, and the victorious Green candidate’s 40.7 percent.

The result is a gut punch to the prime minister, who has been reeling for months from a poisonous cocktail of historically low approval ratings (he is the most unpopular British head of government in modern history), Reform’s continued dominance in the polls, and ongoing controversy surrounding his appointment of known Jeffrey Epstein confidant Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States. This defeat, coupled with what are expected to be catastrophic losses in Britain’s May local elections (loosely analogous in terms of political ramifications to the U.S. midterm elections), will, in time, probably suffice to force the prime minister from office at the hands of his own party.

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Matthew X. Wilson

Matthew X. Wilson is a former associate editor at National Review.

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Last night, Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party suffered a devastating by-election loss to the far-left Green Party. In the historic Labour stronghold of Gorton and Denton, a largely impoverished and working-class constituency on the outskirts of Manchester, the prime minister’s candidate took third place with 25.4 percent of the vote — falling short of the right-wing Reform UK candidate, who took 28.7 percent, and the victorious Green candidate’s 40.7 percent.

The result is a gut punch to the prime minister, who has been reeling for months from a poisonous cocktail of historically low approval ratings (he is the most unpopular British head of government in modern history), Reform’s continued dominance in the polls, and ongoing controversy surrounding his appointment of known Jeffrey Epstein confidant Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States. This defeat, coupled with what are expected to be catastrophic losses in Britain’s May local elections (loosely analogous in terms of political ramifications to the U.S. midterm elections), will, in time, probably suffice to force the prime minister from office at the hands of his own party.