Voters in London’s Holborn and St Pancras head to the polls on Thursday in a by-election triggered by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer giving up his seat.
It is the first ballot-box test for Andy Burnham, nearly three months into his premiership, and has become a tight two-horse race between the governing Labour Party and the Green Party.
The constituency is densely packed, with about 112,000 people in 10.5 square kilometres. Its residents are young, with a median age of 32, and 45 percent were born outside the UK. Three quarters rent their homes and 70 percent of households have no car.
Labour’s candidate, Sagal Abdi-Wali, came to London from Somalia as a child refugee and became the first black woman to lead the local council. The Greens, led nationally by Zack Polanski, won some council seats from Labour in local elections, but are mired in a controversy over a conference motion declaring Zionism a form of racism, which has split the party over accusations of antisemitism.
Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego reports from London.
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