The Workers’ Party not standing at the by-election in Denton and Gorton, 26 February 2026

WE reproduce below statements by George Galloway and Chris Williamson.

From Chris Williamson:

AFTER several days consideration, the Workers Party of Britain(WPB) announced on the evening of Sunday February 1 that it would withdraw from the Denton and Gorton by-election. Forty-eight hours later, Your Party followed suit.

The WPB’s political committee felt that this was in the best interests of the working class because there is a real chance that Labour and Reform can be beaten in this seat. But that prospect would be diminished without an electoral agreement to avoid splitting the vote.

This wasn’t an easy option, because the WPB has a solid level of support in that constituency. We secured over 10 per cent of the vote in the general election, while the Green Party achieved13 per cent.

We also defeated Labour’s deputy leader on Manchester City Council in May 2024, when Shahbaz Sarwar took the Longsight ward in the constituency for the Workers Party. 

But a lot of political water has flowed under the bridge since then. Labour’s approval rating has collapsed, Sir Keir Starmer’s popularity is in the toilet, and the Green Party has a new leader. 

This has seen its policy pronouncements moving leftwards to embrace a more socialist orientation. So, this by-election could mark the beginning of the end for the Labour Party.  Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership has shattered any illusions that the party is anything other than a puppet for corporate capitalism, a tool of the war  machine, and an apologist for genocide.

That means there are even more disgruntled Labour voters in Gorton and Denton today than there were in the 2024 general election, when the turnout dropped by more than 10 per cent compared to2019. Consequently, there are literally thousands of erstwhile  Labour supporters who could be persuaded to vote for a different party this time.

I think the WPB could have significantly improved on the vote we achieved in the general election, but the Green Party is also likely to substantially increase its vote share as well.

If both parties had entered the fray, there was a very real danger that we would have cancelled each other out and made it easier for Labour to hold on, or Reform to win.

That is why the WPB made this principled decision. We had four excellent prospective candidates to choose from, who were ready to throw themselves headlong into a potentially bruising contest, which would have raised the WPB’s profile well beyond Denton and Gorton.

But we put the interests of the working class and the wider national interest ahead of the party’s interest.  

On the national stage too, it’s essential for the left to get its act together before the next general election.  We have to collaborate to prevent the prospect of a proto-fascist party coming to power, or an increasingly authoritarian Labour government remaining in office.

We do of course have a number of programmatic and ideological differences with the Green Party on some aspects of foreign policy and identity politics.  For example, the WPB backs a de-zionised unitary state with equal rights for all its citizens, and rejects the so-called two-state solution, because that wouldn’t resolve the injustice to which the Palestinians have been subjected since 1948.

By contrast, although the Green Party condemns the Israeli government as an apartheid state, they simultaneously strongly sup-port the two-state solution. 

Furthermore, the WPB explicitly repudiates Britains membership of Nato, wants the UK to leave Nato, and opposes Nato’s proxy war against Russia that is being fought in Ukraine.  

Whereas the Green Party has a more ambiguous policy on Nato membership, and backs the proxy war in Ukraine.  

On identity politics, let me be clear, the WPB is absolutely committed to upholding human rights for all citizens, including the trans community.  The only difference of opinion is that we say the rights of one group should not diminish the rights of another.

But these arguments are like debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and pose no threat to the neoliberal status quo nor to the warmachine. 

Ever since the Corbyn project collapsed nearly seven years ago, I have been arguing that for the left to succeed, we need to agree where we agree and have fraternal disagreements where we don’t.  And we broadly agree on the most fundamental issues affecting the country like the need to reverse the damage done by the obsession of successive governments with neoliberalism and imperialism.

I very much doubt there would be any opposition from the Green Party or Your Party to bringing about an irreversible shift in the balance of wealth and power for working people and their families. So, we must not allow ourselves to be divided over identity politics.

The left started substituting identity politics for class politics in the 1970s. This phenomenon accelerated during the Thatcher era. It enabled us to make important gains on women’s rights, gay rights and in tackling racism. 

But while progress was being made on these issues, economic inequality was going in the opposite direction. Around 15million Britons are now living in poverty, more than six million people are in precarious employment, social security has been decimated, and homelessness has gone through the roof.

The collective left took its eye off the ball and therefore failed in its historic mission to defend the working class. But we now have a chance to put that right by working together to build a good society where poverty is eliminated and no-one is left behind.

But that means discarding petty sectarianism in favour of thrashing out sensible electoral agreements across the country.

There are some constituencies where the WPB is best placed to prevail, others where Your Party would do well and others, like Gorton and Denton, where the Green Party should take precedence. The fate of the working class is dependent on the left rising to the challenge. The big question is whether the left is capable of doing so. I sincerely hope it is.■ 

Chris Williamson is a deputy-leader of the Workers Party. He was formerly MP for Derby North from 2010-15 and 2017-19.

From George Galloway:

An Important Message to the Electors of Manchester.

In Thursday’s by-election in the Gorton and Denton constituency we ask all our many supporters to vote for the Green Party candidate.
Led by our esteemed Shahbaz Sarwar, councillor for Longsight in the constituency we have been patiently explaining to the voters who would prefer to be voting for Cllr Shahbaz why we stood down in favour of the Greens. Especially important as the hypocrites from Labour have been door to door highlighting the very policy differences we and many of our voters have with the Greens: drug policy, identity politics issues, sexuality etc.
This despite the fact that the so-called Labour Party is daily revealed to be a drug-fuelled bordello of sexual degeneracy and deviance. Peter Mandelson is merely the tip of the suppurating  poisonous organ that is Keir Starmer’s government.
While we have important differences with the Greens we also have significant shared objectives.
To punish the Starmer government for its open transparent undeniable collaboration with the Netanyahu Ben Gvir Smotrich murder gang in Gaza. This collaboration openly stated from the start by Starmer himself and echoed in word and deed by his minions in the House of Commons scarcely needs accentuating to supporters of ours but it can only be punished by your going out to vote. To curse injustice in your mind is not enough when you have the right and ability to curse it with your hand at the ballot box.
To halt the state sponsored rise of Nigel Farage and his race-baiting imitators in Reform et al who promise and will if they can to tear our society apart on racial and religious grounds. The recent election interference by Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was a clear indicator that if all else fails race will be the answer for the British establishment.
To end the scapegoating of the British working class for the failures of our economic and political system which has brought our country low, lower than it has ever been and in a more isolated and dangerous place than we have been since the Battle of Britain in 1941.
For these, frankly existential reasons we decided despite our significant support in the constituency to stand down and support the Greens. We will be back with all guns blazing at the local elections in just a few weeks time. And at the general election whenever it comes.
We will expect a clear run at the general election in the three parliamentary constituencies where we came second in 2024, Rochdale Birmingham Hodge Hill and Birmingham Yardley.
And in every constituency where we have elected councillors we will make the case for Workers Party candidates to be the sole challenger to Labour and Reform. Elsewhere as we have proven in Denton and Gorton we will back other candidates with a better chance to win.
This is our template. I take full and personal responsibility for it. I hope you will help ensure it succeeds.
On Thursday in the by-election in Manchester Vote Green. The fate of Keir Starmer’s hated government hangs upon it.
George Galloway
Leader of the Workers Party of Britain