Labour has launched an attack on the Green party for wanting to legalise drugs, as the parties vie to be seen as the main leftwing contender against Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton byelection.
The party is pursuing a strategy of trying to sideline Zack Polanski’s party after warnings Labour was too slow to pitch itself as the “Stop Reform” party in Caerphilly, which was won by Plaid Cymru.
With the contest looming in late February, Keir Starmer is facing a huge battle to retain Gorton and Denton, despite Labour’s 13,000 majority, after blocking the popular Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, from running as its candidate. The Greens and Reform believe they have a chance of taking the seat.
Labour launched targeted online adverts in the area this week, aiming to highlight Polanski’s policy, which the party describes as wanting to “legalise all drugs”, with a Labour spokesperson branding this “extreme and dangerous”. The party has not yet picked its own candidate.
The Greens hit back, saying “attempting to weaponise the very serious public health issue of drugs is an insult to the families of the thousands of people who die of drug-related deaths every year”.
Launching Labour’s advertising van in Gorton, Lucy Powell, the party’s deputy leader, dismissed claims the Greens would be the main opposition to Reform on polling day.
“I think there’s been some mixed messages and there’s been some things coming through in the media, but the Greens can’t win here,” she said. “So voting Green is really risky because it risks letting Reform in. We lost a byelection in Runcorn, not that far from here, by six votes because people voted Green. And that Reform MP in Runcorn, she’s going around saying she doesn’t want to see black and brown people on the telly.”
She added: “That’s what happens if people vote for any other party other than Labour in this straight fight between Labour and Reform. There are no Green councillors across this constituency at all; we are very strong on the ground here. This is a Labour area, and this is about whether Reform come into a Labour area or whether Labour stops Reform coming into a Labour area.”
Reform has picked a hard-right activist, Matthew Goodwin, to contest the seat, while the frontrunners for the Greens are expected to be the Trafford councillor Hannah Spencer and its deputy leader, Mothin Ali, however nominations are open until midday on Thursday.
As it launched its new attack ads, a Labour party spokesperson said: “Gorton and Denton is a two-horse race between Labour and Reform. Farage is determined to drive a wedge between communities in Manchester and its local residents, who would pay the price if Matt Goodwin is elected.
“Goodwin has a long track record of pitting communities against one another and has endorsed Tommy Robinson’s comments in the past. Electing him would be taking Reform’s divisive politics to a whole new level.
“Only Labour can stop Reform’s toxic politics taking hold. The Greens just aren’t serious and their extreme and dangerous policy to legalise all drugs just exposes that. A vote for the Greens in Gorton and Denton just risks letting Reform in through the back door.”
The contest is shaping up to be a three-way battle between Labour, Reform and the Greens, with the two challenger parties having come second in the seat formerly taken by Andrew Gwynne in 2024. Gwynne stood down for health reasons after becoming an independent MP last year following a scandal over offensive messages in a WhatsApp group.
Labour and the Greens are working to convince voters they have the best chance of defeating Reform and will hope to pick up tactical voters on the left who want to choose the best option to defeat Nigel Farage’s party. If neither can, the vote on the left risks being split, with Reform benefiting.
In response to the ads, which feature clips of Polanski speaking about drugs, a Green party spokesperson said it was a “two-way race now between the Greens and Reform”.
“Only the Greens can beat Reform – Labour MPs are saying that themselves every day. All of our evidence from the doorsteps is that the Labour vote is collapsing,” they said.
“The Greens have real solutions to the cost of living crisis and a bold vision for this country. Labour and Reform are just more of the same; no change and stirring up divisions. We will fight this byelection on a positive agenda, reducing inequality, reducing bills, and celebrating the diversity and unity of this community.”
Labour will pick its candidate at the weekend, but some in the party are already urging No 10 to think again about barring Burnham from standing. He was blocked on grounds of the cost of running a Greater Manchester mayoral contest, but allies of Starmer were also keen not to give him an opportunity to challenge Starmer as an MP.
Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, a major financial backer of Labour, wrote in the Tribune magazine that it was a “cynical stitch-up”.
“What could possibly justify blocking Andy Burnham, the single politician in Britain with a positive overall approval rating, from standing to be Labour’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection?” she said.
On Wednesday, Starmer accused the Reform candidate in Gorton of pursuing the politics of “toxic division” after Goodwin refused to disown his claim that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British.
The prime minister suggested that Goodwin would try to “tear people apart” in Gorton and Denton, and that voters wanting to stop Farage’s party should coalesce around the Labour candidate.
• This article was amended on 29 January 2026. An earlier version said the Green party candidate in Gorton and Denton would be Hannah Spencer or Mothin Ali; however, nominations are open until midday on Thursday.
