Gorton and Denton by-election suggests tactical voting will be big problem for Reform UK
Tactical voting is not ideal but we must all make our own choices about what is best – or worst – for the country
Make no mistake, the Gorton and Denton by-election was a big result in a number of ways, not just as the Greens’ first-ever triumph in such a contest.
Labour saw its vote cut in half, falling from 18,555 at the 2024 general election to 9,364, which is pretty bad going in less than two years and a lesson for those in the party still clinging onto the hope that Keir Starmer might be able to tough things out. That said, some might think Labour did quite well, all things considered, to get reasonably close to Reform UK in second.
Nigel Farage’s candidate received 10,578 votes, more than double the number in 2024. But, of course, that success was eclipsed by the Greens’ Hannah Spencer, a 34-year-old plumber, who said voters had “rejected hate and embraced hope” after she was elected with 14,980 votes.
That rejection of “hate” was an obvious dig at Reform, but it was also a recognition of the effect of tactical voting on the result. The Greens came third in 2024, so for voters angry at Starmer but wanting to prevent Reform from picking up another MP, the choice may have been reasonably simple.
Tactical SNP voters
Tactical voting has always been a factor in elections and most parties have both suffered and benefited from it at one point or another.
In Scotland, tactical voting against Reform is expected to be of great benefit to the SNP at May’s Holyrood election. A Stonehaven MRP poll published this week predicted the nationalists will win 67 seats – a majority despite an election system virtually designed to prevent this – partly because a quarter of Labour voters are willing to back John Swinney’s party in order to stymie Reform.
Meanwhile, many unionists will be voting tactically for the party best placed to beat the SNP.
Voting against a party you don’t like, rather than for one that you do, is never likely to produce an outcome that best reflects ‘the will of the people’, particularly in the long term. However, in the end, we all must make our own choices about what is best – or worst – for the country.
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