Sagal Abdi-Wali, leader of Camden Council, is the favoured Labour candidate for Holborn and St Pancras
Sagal Abdi-Wali could succeed Sir Keir Starmer as Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras
The leading Labour contender to face Zack Polanski in the by-election for Sir Keir Starmer’s former constituency is a former Somali child refugee, The Telegraph understands.
Ms Abdi-Wali, who leads Camden Council and previously chaired Sir Keir’s Constituency Labour Party, is understood to be weighing a bid for Parliament after the former prime minister announced he would step down.
Ms Abdi-Wali arrived in Britain as a child refugee from Somalia in the early 1990s and has said she has supported Labour for “as long as I can remember”. She was elected as a Labour councillor for the first time in 2022 and is regarded locally as an ally of Sir Keir.
Following the local elections on May 7, she became leader of Camden Council, promising to “work day and night to fight for social justice and to deliver meaningful change”.
Ms Abdi-Wali has previously described how her family came to London in the early 1990s after fleeing civil war and famine.
Writing for the LabourList website in 2019, she said: “Camden has been my home since I moved here with my family as a child refugee, fleeing war-torn Somalia.
“This new home is where I was raised and educated; it’s where I now work for the council and volunteer for local community groups and charities.
“It is an area steeped in close community values, progressivism and inclusion, all of which have shaped who I am and the socialist principles by which I stand.”
Senior Labour figures told The Telegraph that the Holborn and St Pancras contest was expected to be intensely fought, with a number of prominent possible candidates.
A London Greens source told The Telegraph that the party would “go in hard”, with activists expected to be brought in “from all over the country” to support the campaign.
The source said the Greens were likely to centre their campaign on living costs and housing, following the approach used in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February.
Hannah Spencer became the Green Party’s fifth MP in that contest, taking the seat from Labour after former MP Andrew Gwynne resigned.
The Greens gained 10 councillors in the Camden area in May, dealing Labour a significant blow, although they fell short of taking control of the council.
Sir Keir announced on Tuesday that he was leaving Parliament, telling the Camden New Journal that the “time is right” to “pass the baton” to a new MP. His statement came as Andy Burnham delivered his first Commons speech as Prime Minister.
‘Referendum on Rip-off Britain’Ms Abdi-Wali has previously discussed her links with senior Labour figures in London, including Georgia Gould, an education minister.
During an interview earlier this year with Steve Reed, a former cabinet minister and ally of Sir Keir, she said her interest in politics had been driven by concerns about “the environment, the climate and the change around us politically”.
Green Party insiders have said Mr Polanski is giving serious consideration to standing in the constituency. He unsuccessfully contested a council seat there as a Liberal Democrat in 2015.
In a statement published on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of his election as Green leader, Mr Polanski said the by-election would be “a referendum on ending Rip-off Britain”.
His comments intensified speculation that he would stand. He said: “I am proud of what I have achieved in the first year of my leadership of the Green Party but it is just the start. I am very excited for the next chapter for myself, for the Greens and for people across the country.”
However, leaked WhatsApp messages seen by The Times show that some activists want the party to choose a British-Palestinian candidate, or work with Andrew Feinstein, an independent pro-Gaza candidate who finished second to Sir Keir at the general election.
Matt Barker, a former Green council candidate in Lewisham, asked two members of the “Greens for Palestine” public chat group whether they would seek the nomination. He wrote: “Would either of you, as British Palestinians, consider standing in Holborn & St Pancras? I’d love to help elect a Green Palestinian.”
Another group member said: “I can’t help but feel that a Palestinian candidate that challenges Labour hard, even beats them, in Starmer’s old seat would be epic.”
A further member wrote about Feinstein: “Greens should co-operate with him to win against [the Labour Party] candidate. Greens won’t win there.”
He described Sir Keir’s time in office as “not a legacy to be proud of, it is a legacy of shame” and argued that the Greens were the only party able to “draw a line under” it.
The Telegraph understands that the Greens are due to choose their candidate by the end of next week, using the party’s usual local selection process. Mr Polanski said in April that he would “almost certainly” stand in a London by-election and identified Holborn and St Pancras as one possible contest.
But the Green Party’s support has declined sharply in recent months, while the north London constituency remains widely regarded as a safe Labour seat.
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