Hope wins: five comms learnings from the Greens’ victory in Gorton & Denton 

The Green Party’s victory in Gorton & Denton was, by any measure, a remarkable result. A first-time MP, in a seat the party had never held defeating Labour on their own turf. 

By-elections are complicated, and it is not possible to put this result down to any single factor. Labour’s campaign was visibly affected by internal factional conflict, and that undoubtedly shaped the outcome. Still, the story a campaign tells matters, and there is a lot we can learn from the story the Greens told in Gorton & Denton, and how they told it, particularly for those working to counter the far right in our current political climate. 

Here I attempt to draw out what cut through, and what it means more broadly for how we win on migration and progressive platforms.  

1. The power of ‘a nice life’  

Hannah Spencer’s victory speech spoke to something simple and resonant: the right of ordinary people to have a nice life, and the fact that for so many people, this is simply out of reach. 

Cost of living. Spiralling bills. The impossibility of finding somewhere affordable to live. She named the real, daily pressures bearing down on people in one of England’s most deprived constituencies, where 45% of children live below the breadline, and where average household income in the poorest neighbourhood is less than half that of the city’s wealthiest. 

The environment, for the record, got one mention. This is significant. The Greens didn’t win by leading with their most distinctive issue. They won by speaking directly to the material reality of people’s lives, and grounding their politics in something every single person in that room could feel. The chance to care for the people we love. Decent housing. A community that holds together. Leading with that shared desire is how you open a door that fear-based politics tries to keep shut. 

2. Hope grounded in specifics 

‘Hope’ is one of those words that can easily feel empty and unexciting. Spencer and the Greens showed us what hope looks like in this constituency, in Manchester. It was spelled out time and time again. Good work. Caring work. Rewarding work. A home you can afford. A community that looks out for you.  

When Reform candidate Matt Goodwin suggested taxing women without children, Spencer responded by talking about the unstable housing and NHS underfunding that locks womenout of starting a family. It framed Goodwin as out of touch, and Spencer was the candidate cutting through the political point scoring to people’s real-life circumstances,   

The most effective campaign messaging doesn’t ask people to believe in an abstract future. It gives us a specific, imaginable one. It points somewhere and asks us to picture something real.  

3. The messenger matters as much as the message 

The most effective messengers are relatable, trusted members of communities. They’re people whose lives reflect the experiences of the people they’re speaking to. Faith leaders, nurses, teachers, trade unionists, local charity workers.   

People who are embedded in the place, not parachuted into it are relatable and trustworthy to their voters. As a plumber originally from Bolton, Spencer leaned into that identity throughout the campaign. This was especially effective in her two-horse race with Reform candidate Matt Goodwin, an academic turned GB News presenter.   

In a constituency that has been spoken about and campaigned in but never really heard, a candidate who genuinely comes from and speaks for the community lands differently.  

4. Silliness as strategy  

The Greens appeared to be having a lot of fun, and they did a great job of communicating this in a digital landscape, even aping the latest Gen Z slang seeping into the mainstream.  

Memes. Gifs. Reels. Content that didn’t take itself too seriously. The format might seem trivial, but the tactics are not. We are living through a period of intense political and social exhaustion. Many people, particularly younger voters, are not disengaged because they don’t care. They’re disengaged because the noise is relentless, the stakes feel enormous, and politics so often feels like something that happens to them rather than something they’re part of. 

Injecting some humour into politics not only humanises the candidate, but it also meets people where they are, including in the parts of their lives where they’re scrolling, laughing, and looking for something that doesn’t feel like homework. It says: we see you, and we’re not going to make this more miserable than it already is. In a political landscape drowning in doom, a bit of lightness goes a long way.  

5. Refusing the migration bait  

Reform UK were a serious force in this election. They performed strongly, particularly in Denton, running on a platform built around the sense that ordinary voters are ignored by a political class that has stopped listening. 

The Greens didn’t cede that ground. They fought for it and won it by combining race, migration status and class in a single, unifying narrative. Spencer’s victory speech spoke from and for the community that Reform claims to represent. In this interview about her hometown of Bolton, Spencer talks about wanting to ‘defend our communities’, naming both the austerity at the heart of their struggle and the private companies, Serco and Britannia, profiting from the asylum system there.   

While Labour chase Reform on their own terrain, getting tougher, sounding harder, what worked in Gorton and Denton was to refuse this frame altogether, and rewrite the story on migration, using a Value, Villain, Vision framework, adapted from the work of Anat Shenker-Osario.   

• Value: Lead with what we share – community, dignity, learning across difference. Here’s Spencer on the BBC talking about muddling through, looking after each other, and working hard in the context of a broken immigration system.  

• Villain: Name who actually created the chaos – Government decisions, for-profit contractors, deliberate political choices. Spencer’s victory speech directly criticised billionaires lining their pockets.  

• Vision: Offer something concrete and collective – housing, healthcare, and a system that works for everyone. In Spencer’s words, the desire for ‘a nice life.’ 

This approach reframes difficult questions without sidestepping them. Instead of asking people to be less worried, it gives them something real to be angry about, someone real to hold accountable, and a tangible vision for change.  

What this means for us 

You can never copy campaign plans one-for-one, but Spencer’s victory is proof that hope-based, values-led, authentic community-rooted politics can win, even in the most difficult terrain. 

Communities across the UK feel unseen, unheard, and underestimated. That is exactly the gap that fear and division are designed to fill. Our job is to fill it with something better, with stories that are honest about the pressures people face, clear about who is responsible, and genuinely hopeful about what we can build together. That’s the lesson from Gorton & Denton.  

Want to build on this? Our Messaging Guide has practical, research-backed guidance for talking about migration, asylum, and solidarity in ways that persuade – and that win.