Green Party candidate for Gorton and Denton by-election backed decriminalising prostitution and suggested she is ‘open’ to abolishing the police
The Green Party’s candidate for the contentious Manchester by-election has called for the decriminalization of prostitution and suggested she is ‘open’ to abolishing the police.
Plumber and trainee plasterer Hannah Spencer, 34, was announced as the party’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election yesterday.
During the Green Party internal elections last year, Ms Spencer set out her stance on a number of controversial policies, including making clear she believed ‘sex work should not be criminalised’.
The parliamentary candidate also criticized the Supreme Court’s biological sex ruling last year and suggested proposed guidance on protecting women-only spaces was ‘probably unlawful’.
Additionally, Ms Spencer, who is now a local councilor in Manchester, was accused of drawing parallels between the Holocaust and Israel’s actions in Gaza in a social media post.
In the post, he responded to a photo of former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner lighting candles for Holocaust Remembrance Day, writing to X: ‘”Never again” but still selling weapons to Israel.’
A Labor source said: ‘Keir has driven racist anti-Semites away from Labor, but they have found their home in the Green Party. Zack Polanski has a choice between condemning his candidate’s hatred or supporting it with his silence.’
But the Green Party branded the suggestion that Ms Spencer’s social media post was anti-Semitic ‘nonsense’, saying the accusation ‘merely devalues the term’.
Hannah Spencer was named as the Greens candidate at an event in Gorton & Denton on Friday alongside party leader Zack Polanski.
It is thought that Ms Spencer, who also trained as a plasterer, will be the first female plumber to become an MP.
The Greens are trying to position themselves as the main opposition to Reform England in Gorton and Denton after Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham was blocked from standing.
But Labor believes the Greens can deter traditional voters by attacking them on issues such as drug policy; The policy proposes to decriminalize the possession of Class A drugs, including heroin and crack cocaine.
During Green’s 2025 internal election in August, Ms Spencer said: ‘I support a complete change to the way this works in England and Wales and believe sex work should be decriminalised.’
The parliamentary candidate was also asked by the ‘Feminist Greens’ group whether she would condemn the ‘reactionary and unfair Supreme Court decision’ and the ‘possibly illegal stance taken by the EHRC’. [Equality and Human Rights Commission]’.
Ms Spencer said: ‘I wholeheartedly support this position and am proud that as Greens we are a place of refuge and solidarity for our LGBTQIA+ brothers and sisters.’
When asked about his views on reforming the police versus abolishing it, he said: ‘First of all, I would support reforming the system, because I don’t believe we’ve ever seen anything close to decent, decent reform. That said, I’m really open to hearing and learning more about people’s calls for the abolition of slavery.’
Conservatives said last night that Ms Spencer ‘clearly lives on another planet’.
A Tory spokesman said: ‘Rather than focusing on the real challenges facing society and the country, he struggles to arouse cultural causes.’
Keir Starmer’s woes will deepen dramatically if Labor fails to hold on in by-election (Prime Minister seen in China on Friday)
Ministers are desperately trying to recover from the bitter row that has prevented Sir Keir from stepping forward as Labor candidate in the constituency of Manchester mayor Andy Burnham (pictured).
It came as Labor general secretary Hollie Ridley criticized “senior figures in the party” who had briefed the Greens were in contention in Gorton and Denton.
According to The Times, he told a weekly meeting of government advisers that suggestions that Zack Polanski’s party could win were “f*****g.”
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage joined Reform candidate UK News presenter Matt Goodwin in Denton and said Reform had a ‘very real chance’ after Mr Burnham was blocked.
Mr Farage said: ‘This is an open competition. Frankly, if Andy Burnham had won the Labor Party, circumstances would have been different, I would be the first to admit that, but he is not.
‘We have the most unpopular Prime Minister in my lifetime and I think the vote for Reform is essentially a referendum on Starmer and his Government. So I think we have a very real chance.’
By-elections to replace former Labor MP Andrew Gwynne in Gorton and Denton are expected to be held on February 26. Labor will announce its candidate for the contest on Saturday, while the Conservatives will announce their candidate soon.
A spokesperson for the Green Party said: ‘Criminalizing sex workers has not worked and sex work should be decriminalized…
‘Trans people are a persecuted minority in society. This is wrong. ‘Clearly the laws are confused and serve no one.’
The spokesman described the claim that Ms Spencer’s social media post was anti-Semitic as ‘nonsense’ and added: ‘While the Labor government failed to oppose the genocide unfolding in Gaza, the response was directed at Angela Rayner and her “never again” claim.
‘Hannah and the Green Party deeply condemn antisemitism and making accusations about her response to the Labor Government’s action is nothing more than a debasement of the term.’
