Labour has become embroiled in controversy over a Gorton and Denton by-election campaign leaflet by a fake company falsely asserting it is the ‘tactical choice’.
The flyer was put through voters’ doors in the Greater Manchester constituency on Wednesday evening, before they head to the polls on Thursday.
The vote was triggered in February last year, when the sitting MP, Labour’s Andrew Gwynne, resigned on health grounds.
This followed his suspension from the party and sacking as Health Minister over offensive WhatsApp messages, as revealed by The Mail on Sunday.
Labour won the seat with a rock-solid majority of 13,413 and more than half the vote as part of its landslide election victory in July 2024.
But its plummeting popularity since then means the constituency could now be vulnerable, with Reform UK and the Green Party their main rivals.
The keenly contested by-election will prove a crucial test for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, whose premiership has been rocked by challenges from the start.
And his party has now been accused of playing dirty ahead of the crunch vote, with the seemingly spurious leaflet backing its campaign, HuffPost reports.
The flyer (pictured) was put through voters’ doors in the Greater Manchester constituency on Wednesday evening, before they head to the polls on Thursday
The leaflet (pictured) purports to be from a firm called ‘Tactical Choice’, encouraging tactical voting. Text on the flyer says this strategic choice would be Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia
The keenly contested by-election will prove a crucial test for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, whose premiership has been rocked by challenges from the start. Pictured: The PM on his visit to Gorton and Denton earlier this week, with Labour candidate, Ms Stogia, right
Residents in Gorton and Denton have received a flyer purporting to be from a firm called ‘Tactical Choice’, encouraging tactical voting.
This approach to elections sees voters back candidates they would not normally support, just to prevent others winning – in this case, Nigel Farage’s Reform.
Text on the leaflet says this strategic choice would be Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia. It also claims the campaign literature is promoted on her behalf.
The flyer reads: ‘The Tactical Choice says Vote Labour. Based on a new prediction made in the last 24 hours we are recommending voting Labour.’
But no such organisation called ‘Tactical Choice’ seems to exist, suggesting the campaign material may well be completely spurious.
In fact, two real tactical voting organisations – Tactical.Vote and StopTheTories.Vote – have recommended the strategic choice to stop Reform is in fact the Greens.
Labour is fighting a double electoral threat at the by-election from Reform and the Greens, with their respective candidates Matt Goodwin and Hannah Spencer.
The most recent polling, published on Wednesday, has suggested the Greens could pull off a shock win.
The Opinium research put the party on 30 per cent support among people who were very likely to vote – with Labour and Reform just behind on 28 per cent.
All the figures were within the margin of error, and constituency-level polling always comes with a health warning as it is very difficult to conduct accurately.
But Labour figures will be dismayed that efforts to unite Left-wing voters against Nigel Farage’s insurgents look to be stumbling.
A Green Party spokesperson said: ‘In a final throw of desperation, Labour have made up an entirely fictitious organisation called “Tactical Choice” referencing them on their final leaflet.
‘They’ve had to make this up because every actual tactical voting organisation has endorsed the Green Party as the best hope to keep Reform out in this election.
‘We have great faith in the electorate seeing through these desperate Labour lies and uniting behind the Greens in the by-election tomorrow to beat Reform.’
A Labour campaign spokesperson said: ‘The Greens have been pumping out fake news and deploying dirty tactics for weeks. We’ll take no lectures from them.
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The most recent polling, published on Wednesday, has suggested the Greens could pull off a shock win. Pictured: Green candidate Hannah Spencer, with party leader Zack Polanski, at a campaign event in Manchester last week
Labour figures will be dismayed that efforts to unite Left-wing voters against Nigel Farage’s insurgents look to be stumbling. Pictured: Reform candidate Matt Goodwin, left, with party leader Farage, right, at a campaign event in Manchester earlier this month
‘The only way to defeat Reform in this by-election is by backing Labour.’
Sir Keir’s fate could hang on the outcome of Thursday’s by-election, after he barely survived a coup a fortnight ago.
He blocked Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from being Labour’s candidate, amid concerns he could be a leadership challenger in the House of Commons.
Labour MPs and ministers are expected to flood the Manchester seat over the next 48 hours, in a bid to salvage the campaign.
The PM himself visited on Monday – but was tellingly kept well away from ordinary voters amid alarm at his dire personal ratings.
Green leader Zack Polanski is confident about his party’s prospects, despite concerns in some quarters over its policies.
The Greens want to legalise hard drugs, decriminalise prostitution and operate an effective open-door immigration policy.
They have also backed Britain paying huge reparations for the slave trade.
By-election literature has targeted the significant Muslim vote in the constituency, including focusing on Gaza.
Other polls have also pointed to an incredibly tight three-way race in Gorton and Denton, although some have questioned their methodology.
Sir Keir only carried out a token campaign stop on Monday, carefully surrounded by Labour activists, candidate Ms Stogia and his deputy Lucy Powell inside a sports centre.
Despite aides insisting he would be meeting voters, there is no evidence that happened.
He did speak to Mr Burnham but there were no images of the encounter.
Reform candidate Matt Goodwin has branded the by-election a referendum on Sir Keir’s leadership, which has weathered numerous storms in recent times.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for him to resign earlier this month, over the fallout from Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein.
And the mere 20 months since Labour’s election victory have been marked by a series of major policy U-turns – most recently on the postponement of local elections, digital ID cards, and pub business rates.
