Labour Party Angeliki Stogia said that, if elected, she would campaign for government investment in local areas and to improve local
GP provision. She also said she was campaigning against
fly tipping and for having
breakfast clubs in every school, as well as opportunities for young people and reliable public transport, stating that Labour's campaign was "grounded in the everyday concerns" of the constituency's population. On 27 January,
The Guardian wrote that Labour's campaign had been set back after six local Labour councillors were found by an internal party investigation to have shown "complete disregard" for standards in public life. These findings were due to be considered by the council less than four weeks before the by-election. Labour's early campaign was overshadowed by a scandal involving
the relationship between party grandee and former ambassador to the United States
Peter Mandelson and the late US child sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, which re-emerged following the
January 2026 release of the Epstein files by the US government. This led to the resignation of Starmer's chief of staff
Morgan McSweeney and the Scottish Labour Leader
Anas Sarwar publicly calling for Starmer's resignation, although Starmer remained defiant, stating he had "won every fight I've ever been in", and did not resign. According to
The Independent, some Labour backbenchers were despondent and disinclined to campaign for Stogia, expecting a large defeat in the historically safe seat amid concerns over Starmer's leadership, and following Burnham being blocked from standing. On 5 February,
The Critic reported that Labour had begun briefing journalists that it was expecting an "inevitable defeat".
The Week reported on 7 February that a number of Labour MPs were "secretly" hoping for a loss in the by-election, with the aim of forcing Starmer's resignation and electing a "better leader" as a result. Starmer described the by-election as a "straight fight" between Labour and Reform, which was repeatedly denied by the Green Party. Labour began focusing campaign material against the Green Party, which similarly positioned itself as the main contender to Reform at the start of the campaign; according to
The Standard, Labour figures warned that it would be "existential" for the party if it was beaten by the Greens. Insiders also feared a "Caerphilly scenario", in which Labour voters
tactically vote for the Greens in order to stop a Reform win, as was largely seen to be the case in Labour's loss to
Plaid Cymru in the
2025 Caerphilly by-election to the
Senedd, where it finished in third place behind Reform. Labour criticised the
Greens' party policy of drug decriminalisation, while the Green Party accused Labour of pursuing a "failed
war on drugs". Stogia accused the Greens of lying to the public by suggesting that only they could beat Reform UK, In response, Green Party leader
Zack Polanski declared Labour was "a distant third", referring to polling suggesting Labour Party was behind the Greens, and urged Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell to back the Greens to prevent a Reform victory. On 3 February, in the wake of both
Your Party and the
Workers Party of Britain confirming that they would not field candidates, Labour accused the Greens of a "grubby deal" in which they asked the two parties not to stand, with the aim of maximising the Green vote against Labour. The Green Party rejected any claims of deals, and said the other parties concluded that "the only way to beat Reform is to vote Green". Late in the campaign, Starmer made the unusual move for a sitting Prime Minister of campaigning in the by-election, thereby raising the stakes. Greater Manchester Police launched an investigation into a Labour campaign event in which attendees were told to hold up Labour posters "if you want to get fed". The Greens and Reform accused Labour of violating electoral law by
bribing voters with food, while Labour described the event as "ordinary hospitality". The day before the election, leaflets were distributed by Labour purporting to come from a tactical voting group called "Tactical Choice" which recommended voting Labour. No organisation called "Tactical Choice" appears to exist, and the Green Party accused Labour of making up "an entirely fictitious organisation".
Reform UK Reform UK's
Tameside Council member for
Longdendale, Allan Hopwood, said the party had been planning for a by-election for months prior. however, Goodwin later stated that support for Labour appeared "weaker" than expected and he now saw the Greens as the main opposition to Reform. Goodwin was criticised by Labour and the Greens for a blog he posted in 2023, in which he argued that the "British family is imploding" and offered a list of ideas to create a
pro-family culture in the UK, including raising taxes on those without children. Labour and the Greens also criticised him for saying in a
YouTube video posted to his channel that young girls and women should be having children earlier and be given a "biological reality" check. In response, Goodwin stated that his critics cultivated "a country [that is] completely incapable of talking about the family" and said he supported a "mature, grown-up, responsible conversation" on the issue. Goodwin was criticised by Labour and the Greens for saying that UK-born people from ethnic minority backgrounds are not necessarily British following the
2025 Cambridgeshire train stabbing. Goodwin stated the media reports were misleading, and that he said that second generation immigrants committing terrorist acts such as the
Manchester Arena bombing are not "as British as" their victims. On 6 February,
The Mill reported that Reform had distributed leaflets presented as a
handwritten-style letter from local pensioner Patricia Clegg, who had been asked by Reform to write to support its campaign, which lacked the required legal imprint disclosing the funding origin of the material. Reform stated that the issue was outside of its control, and Hardings Print Solutions took "full responsibility" for erroneously omitting the imprint during its production process. Following advice from the
Electoral Commission, Greater Manchester Police confirmed that it had received complaints and would pursue an investigation, On 25 February, a High Court judge decided not to sanction Goodwin or Reform for the error, accepting Reform's defence that it was an "honest administrative mistake" and had since taken appropriate steps to rectify the issue. On 19 February, Reform UK suspended its interim campaign manager in Tameside, Adam Mitula, following reporting by
The Mill on his earlier antisemitic and misogynistic posts shared on social media. Mitula, a Polish-born entrepreneur, reportedly said on
Twitter that he would "never touch a Jewish woman", stated that he believed the
Holocaust was exaggerated, and shared conspiracy theories linking
transgender people to paedophilia. On 24 February, Mitula released a statement confirming that his membership of Reform had been suspended and stated that he intends to pursue legal action against
The Mill.
Green Party Party leader
Zack Polanski formally launched the Greens' campaign on 27 January, at an event in which he framed the Green campaign to the
economic left of Labour and denied that the Greens would split the progressive vote, citing the government's proposed cuts to
disability benefits to suggest that Labour is no longer a "left-wing party". The
war in Gaza was also mentioned at the event. The Green Party described the by-election as a "Reform–Green battle", and began canvassing in the seat on 25 January. The Green candidate
Hannah Spencer stated that she would seek Starmer's resignation if she won the seat. The Green campaign was managed by Miles Thorpe, who also ran
Carla Denyer's successful campaign in the Labour-held
Bristol Central seat in the 2024 general election. Spencer emphasised that she was local to Manchester and argued that her work, taking her into many ordinary people's homes, helped her have a strong sense of everyday realities for voters, and of the poor insulation of many of their houses. Her campaign focused on the high cost of living, including child poverty, which she proposed to address by reducing inequality, partly via a
wealth tax, and on supporting public services, including nationalising water supplies. Spencer described the Green Party as having a "proud history" of standing with Palestinians, and criticised Angeliki Stogia for not describing Israel's actions in the Gaza war as a "genocide". The Greens were criticised by Reform and Labour for producing campaign material in
Urdu,
Bengali,
Arabic, and
Pashto. Lucy Powell accused the Green Party of "whipping up hatred" among British Muslims over the Labour government's perceived support for the
Gaza genocide. Spencer responded by accusing Powell of using "racist dogwhistles", while Green Deputy Leader
Mothin Ali said the Labour Party was "desperate" and that its attitude led to Muslim communities "being taken for granted" and "the subsequent rise of the far right". The Greens apologised to political scientist
Robert Ford after he complained that his quotes were used "out of context" on leaflets without consulting him to give the impression that he supported the party's chances of winning the by-election. The Green campaign experienced extensive misinformation circulated about Spencer online. Spencer was accompanied by security at official events after receiving verbal abuse influenced by online misinformation; in one incident a man shouted verbal abuse, accusing Spencer of being a "fake plumber". == Endorsements ==