Friday briefing: Is the result in Gorton and Denton a sign of things to come?

The Guardian World

by Martin Belam

February 27, 2026

In today’s newsletter: This byelection has long been mooted as a foreshadowing of upcoming elections in Wales, Scotland and eventually the whole of the UK Good morning. Hannah Spencer is the new MP for Gorton and Denton after the Green party’s first ever parliamentary byelection victory. In a bitter blow to Keir Starmer, Labour were pushed into third place in a constituency the party has represented for nearly a century. Reform’s Matt Goodwin came second, as Nigel Farage claimed the result was “a victory for sectarian voting and cheating”. This contest had been billed as a three-way fight and for much of the campaign, it felt like a pollster’s nightmare. One side of the seat looked ripe for Reform’s message of grievance and cultural threat; the other was saturated with Green posters and the sense that Labour’s coalition was splintering. Add the row over Andy Burnham being blocked from standing, accusations of dirty tricks and disinformation, and you had a byelection that felt like a microcosm of 2026 British politics. Iran | High-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme ended on Thursday without a deal, as the threat of war grows. Migration | Hospitals and care homes in the UK face “an impending car crash”, experts have warned, as research shows the number of overseas nurses and carers has collapsed. UK politics | Jeremy Corbyn is to become the parliamentary leader of Your Party, after an election in which his rival Zarah Sultana was also voted on to the party’s leadership committee. Environment | US “bullying” over a proposed carbon levy on shipping appears to be paying off, experts have said, after Panama reversed its support for the measure. Epstein | Peter Mandelson is facing an inquiry by the EU’s anti-fraud agency after the European Commission requested the body look into his activities during his time as trade commissioner in Brussels. Continue reading...

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Originally published on The Guardian World on 2/27/2026