9th Oct 2026 12:30
(Alliance News) - Holborn and St Pancras has "voted for hope", UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said as Labour celebrates by-election victory.
Labour's new MP Sagal Abdi-Wali won the seat with a 3,364 majority, beating Green Party leader Zack Polanski into second place.
Both the prime minister and his predecessor Keir Starmer congratulated Abdi-Wali, who served as leader of Camden Council, on her success.
In a post on X, Burnham described Holborn and St Pancras as having "voted for hope", and said he was "looking forward to working together" with his party's newest MP.
Starmer, whose resignation as an MP triggered the by-election, said: "Brilliant result.
"Congratulations to my friend @Sagal_AW, I know you are a brilliant champion for our communities and will be a fantastic MP."
Speaking with the Press Association at a victory rally in Camden, Abdi-Wali said she was proud of the result and now wants to deliver for the community, promising to fight for Thames Water to be taken into public ownership.
Asked if she was seeing support for that from the prime minister, she said: "He said it in his speech [to the Labour Party conference] he was going to remove the ban on public ownership of water companies.
"I'm really hopeful about where we can take this, so that these companies and these services are delivering for the people, not for profit."
In terms of the cost to the public of taking over the company, Abdi-Wali said "we need to look at every option" and make sure what happens is in the best interest of the public.
During the campaign, Abdi-Wali indicated a difference with the prime minister on increased fossil fuel production in the North Sea, telling LBC we need to get off the "fossil fuel rollercoaster".
Burnham has previously pledged a "pragmatic" approach to more drilling.
Asked if she was willing to stand up to Burnham on the issue, she said she wants the climate emergency to be at the "top of the government's mind".
"What I've said is that I want to see what the options are in that situation," she said.
"I know how important the climate emergency is to people here. We've had our summers completely disrupted by it."
She also rejected the suggestion that it was Green Party infighting that won the seat for her, after the party's conference recently backed a controversial motion declaring Zionism is racism.
"For me it was the Labour campaign," she said.
"The number of times I've been stopped by people, reacting positively to the message of hope we were sending… that's all I heard.
"I think it was that message of what we can do, of what Andy Burnham is doing now in government and I'm really excited now to be able to deliver on that."
Speaking to reporters, Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell said the party had "smashed it" in the constituency.
She said: "I think the expectation at the start of this campaign is that it might have been more difficult because normally for the parties of government by-elections are difficult, but I think by all measures, really, we smashed it here.
"We're really pleased – we put out a very positive, hopeful message and campaign, and people have joined in that."
source: PA
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