Sultana backs Greens’ Hannah Spencer, calls for whole left to do same
Your Party MP Zarah Sultana has backed the Greens’ candidate Hannah Spencer in the Gorton and Denton by-election later this month. Sultana has also called for left unity and stressed the threat to Muslims posed by the far-right of which Reform UK is part:
The unelected interim leadership of Your Party has still not formalised local branches or ensured members have access to their own data. ​ This should have been resolved months ago, allowing local members to democratically select a Your Party candidate for the upcoming Gorton & Denton by-election.
The candidate list is now published and it is clear that Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and trade unionist, is the strongest challenger to Labour and Reform. ​ I am, therefore, giving my personal critical support to her and the Green Party in this by-election, and I urge others to do the same.
I have always been clear that the left is strongest when it is united. ​ Our real opponents are not one another. ​ They are Reform and the far-right. ​ As a young Muslim woman, I understand viscerally what it would mean for the far-right to gain power in this country. ​ This is not an abstract debate for me, nor the millions of people across the country whose safety would be directly affected.
That is why I want Your Party to become what it was founded to be: a mass working-class party that unites the left, provides a genuine socialist and anti-imperialist alternative, and prevents Nigel Farage and his cronies from ever getting the keys to Downing Street. ​ Together, Your Party will be that vehicle.
Ultimately, defeating fascism must be our number one priority.
My statement on the Gorton & Denton by-election: pic.twitter.com/HSrgDf70h2
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 3, 2026
Sultana’s statement followed an “awful”, factional statement by the Your Party ‘Grassroots Left’ slate that she has backed. The statement attacks the Greens as ‘pro-capitalist, pro-NATO’ and says that the faction cannot “lend unconditional support” to Spencer.
Of course, no one asked them to or suggested that they should lend unconditional support to anyone. As Sultana pointed out, the far-right is an existential threat to Muslims and other minority groups and defeating fascism has to take priority over purism and posturing. The Workers Party has recognised this and announced it will not stand a candidate to allow support to concentrate behind Spencer to defeat the red, blue and teal Tories.
Zarah Sultana did the right thing by coming out with a clear statement of support. If the whole of Your Party does not galvanise to help the Greens win what is likely to be a tight election between them and the Farage fascists, shame on it.
Featured image via the Canary
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What moron in Grass roots left thought to put out this message?! People that share the view in the message referred to will kill Your Party shortly after it’s birth.
Nah. There’s no YP candidate and Sultana says its her own opinion in the absence of one. In this case, tactical voting may be the best option with a view to deflating Reform – so many of their supporters seem to think they’ve already won the next election that each defeat chips away at their enthusiasm.
Also remember that The Canary has jumped on the Green bandwagon, and are indulging in some stirring.
Given that the Greens are indeed a capitalist, pro-NATO, imperialist party, it is difficult to see why socialists should vote Green. Greens will never represent the interests of the working class.
Maybe the Greens are more generally a better option than Your Party, given the divide that already exists within Your Party (which I am a member of). The chaotic forming of the party is one of the most dispiriting things I’ve seen in politics in recent years. You build up hope and then the factional crap re-emerges to ruin everything.
There’s plenty of ‘factional crap’ going on within the Greens – its just not reported here.
Have a look at this, for example : https://thegreenlight.blog/2026/01/27/one-member-one-vote-is-an-illusion-of-democracy/
George Galloway’s principled withdrawal from the G & D by election must have been a difficult decision for the Workers Party.
It was recognised that the Greens were established as the front-runners to defeat Labour and the Far-Right.
Galloway did not want to be responsible for splitting the Left vote
I have little time for the Greens with their opportunism around support for NATO and other nonsense.
BUT
A victory for Labour or Reform is not in the interest of the working class, Gaza or any other progressive platform.
As for Your Party – As long as they allow groups like the Socialist Workers Party to bring their arch-factionalism into the YP, then they will end up like the Labour Party – Factionally divided and eternally engaged in internal warfare.