LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Andy Burnham's Labour Party won an election for the parliamentary seat vacated by former leader Keir Starmer on Friday, fending off a strong challenge from the left-wing Green Party in a boost for the British prime minister.
Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, the leader of the local council, won the by-election in the central London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras with 12,292 votes, compared with 8,928 for Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader.
Labour had been widely expected to hold the seat, as Burnham seeks to repair his party's damaged appeal among core voters in big cities after two bruising years in government under Starmer.
While Labour's main rival in national polls is currently the populist Reform Party, the governing party is seeking to shore up support among left-leaning voters who had turned to the Greens before a national vote due in mid-2029.
The result will be a blow to Polanski, a 43-year-old former actor and hypnotherapist, who has promised to make his party "an eco-populist" movement and draw support away from Labour — a strategy that had been working until Burnham came to power.
Abdi-Wali paid tribute to Starmer in her victory speech and said she wanted to work with Burnham on issues such as housing.
"We have a responsibility to defend what we've built and pass it on," she said. "Throughout our campaign, we chose hope, and the people of Holborn and St Pancras chose it with us. And now it's time to deliver."
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Kevin Buckland)
