Who are the candidates for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election?

The fight to be MP for Holborn and St Pancras is heating up as parties choose their candidates for the coveted London parliamentary seat vacated by Sir Keir Starmer.

The former Prime Minister has represented the Holborn & St Pancras seat since May 2015.

But on September 1, just two months after being ousted as from Number 10 by Andy Burnham , he announced he was stepping down.

A by-election is set to be held on October 8 and the contest is a crunch test in London for Andy Burnham’s bid to revive Labour fortunes in the capital.

The Green Party hope it will continue their gains in the capital from May’s local elections and have put forward Zack Polanski to contest the seat - which has been held by Labour since the constituency’s inception in 1983.

The by-election is expected to be a straight shoot-out between Labour and the Greens.

Sagal Abdi-Wali is the Labour candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election Labour Leader of Camden Council Sagal Abdi-Wali has been chosen as Labour’s candidate in the the upcoming by-election .

She pipped more than 100 candidates to the post to become Labour’s frontrunner in a selection meeting earlier this month.

Cllr Abdi-Wali first came to Britain as a child refugee in the early 1990s after fleeing civil war in Somalia. Since then, she has lived in Camden.

She was elected as a Labour councillor for the Camden Square ward in 2022, after serving as the Cabinet Member for Better Homes - a role which saw her manage the borough’s housing and neighbourhood development.

Cllr Abdi-Wali has also been credited with helping to achieve Camden’s status as a “Borough of Sanctuary” in 2024.

Outside of politics, Cllr Abdi-Wali is a volunteer and a trustee for local charities. She is also the governor for two local schools, according to the Labour Party.

Labour’s candidate for Holborn and St Pancras Sagal Abdi-Wali with Andy Burnham Labour Her views have been largely shaped by her background as a Somalian refugee and she has prioritised housing and homelessness in her role at Camden Council. She has also been vocal about her pro-EU views.

Lib Dems and Tories announce candidates for Holborn and St Pancras by-election