Zack Polanski speaks with supporters during the by-election campaign.Labour are increasingly confident that they will beat Zack Polanksi in next week’s crunch by-election in Keir Starmer’s old seat.
Party sources say “the mood is very upbeat” among local activists less than a week before voters in Holborn and St Pancras go to the polls.
Defeat for the Greens would be a massive blow Polanski, the party’s leader, who had high hopes of claiming a seat which Labour has held since it was established in 1983.
Starmer retained the seat at the 2024 general election with a majority of 11,572, although that was well down on the 27,763 votes he won it by in 2019.
Labour’s candidate is the leader of Camden Council, Sagal Abdi-Wali.
A Labour Party source said: “From talking to local activists, the mood is very upbeat.”
The Greens enjoyed a surge in support and membership after Polanski became party leader last year, culminating in the party beating Labour in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February.
However, a poll of polls compiled by Election Maps UK shows that support for the party has fallen from 16% to 10% in the last six months, piling further pressure on Polanski ahead of next week’s by-election.
HuffPost UK has learned that the Greens are mounting a huge campaign in the final days of the campaign to persuade 2024 Labour voters to switch to them.
If around a third of them do, Labour’s lead would be cut to four points, insiders say.
A Green Party source said: “Labour’s complacency is totally misplaced and it’s all to play for.
“We’ve been moving in on Labour in the past week, with significant numbers of undecided voters who’d previously voted Labour in 2024 now moving to the Green column.”
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