Labour holds onto Holborn and St Pancras after Keir Starmer resignation

Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali won the by-election with 12,292 votes to Mr Polanski’s 8,928 votes, securing 45 per cent of the vote.

Ms Abdi-Wali says it is an “extraordinary honour” to represent the constituency. She arrived in the UK as a child refugee from Somalia in the 1990s and grew up in Camden. She then became a councillor four years ago and since May has been the council leader.

This constituency has been a safe Labour seat for years, with the party winning the constituency at every election since it was created back in 1983. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The Conservatives came third with 1,922 votes. This is the first time they have beaten Reform UK in a by-election since the general election.

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Nigel Farage’s party, who received 1,612 votes, may have been hampered by the presence of Restore Britain in this by-election, as they received 692 votes.

However, the media coverage of this by-election has been focused more on the loser rather than the winner.

Mr Polanski says he will “of course” carry on as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, saying the movement is “so much bigger” than one election.

There are now question marks over his leadership, partly due to this by-election loss and partly due to the controversy caused when the party passed a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism and calling for a single Palestinian state in the Middle East.

Mr Polanski, who himself is half-Jewish, has since been banned from entering Israel despite not actually voting on the motion. He did not vote as he was out campaigning for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

He has now said he would have voted for two amendments rather than the original motion.

Firstly, he would have amended the reference to a single Palestinian state. Mr Polanski said: “I don’t believe we as a Green Party of England and Wales, or even the British government, should be deciding what the future settlement looks like.”

Secondly, he wanted an amendment to specify that it should not be used to discipline Jewish members attending synagogues that consider themselves Zionist.

Both of these amendments were rejected by Green members at their party conference.

Despite the questions over his leadership, Mr Polanski told BBC Breakfast on Friday morning that he is “incredibly proud” of the campaign the party ran, and said it shows the party is “more of an electoral threat in these seats than we’ve ever been before”.

However, he said the main reason he did not win was because people wanted to “give Andy Burnham a chance” as Prime Minister.

The Zionism row has spilled over into Scotland, and sparked a row at first minister’s questions on Thursday afternoon.

Reform UK’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord said the remarks of Scottish Green leader Ross Greer were “racist” and “blatantly anti-Semitic”. Mr Greer said the creation of the state of Israel was “an act of racism” and said he agreed that Zionism is racism.

On Thursday, Mr Offord said: “Let it be said loud and clear in this chamber - Zionism is neither racist nor genocidal.”

In response, First Minister John Swinney said he doesn’t agree with the motion adopted by the Green Party of England and Wales and wants there to be a two-state solution in the Middle East. However, he added: “It is utterly beyond parody that Malcolm Offord invites me to take action on racism when he leads a party that has brought racism into this parliamentary chamber.”