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Andy Burnham faces a test of his re-energised Labour party on Thursday as voters turn out to decide who will replace Sir Keir Starmer as MP for St Holborn and St Pancras.
Local council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali is hoping to hold the seat for Labour after the former prime minister announced he was resigning as an MP last month.
But she will still have to fend off a challenge from the Green Party, who will be fielding party leader Zack Polanski as their candidate.
It has been a difficult week for Mr Polanski, however, after the Greens passed a controversial motion at their conference in Brighton asserting that “Zionism is racism”.
The election will offer Mr Burnham a chance to show he is restoring voters’ faith in the Labour Party, after its poll ratings nosedived during Sir Keir’s time in No 10.
There are 13 other candidates in the by-election, including Tory candidate Ewan Cameron, Reform UK’s Peter Newman and the Liberal Democrats’ Patrick Thomas Stillman.
Who is standing in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election?
Green Party leader Zack Polanski is among more than a dozen candidates who are days away from a crucial by-election in Sir Keir Starmer’s former seat of Holborn and St Pancras.
The contest in the north London constituency is a major test for both Mr Polanski and new Labour leader Andy Burnham, as voters issue what is seen to be their verdict on the prime minister’s first weeks in office.
Candidates from all major parties are fighting for votes, but Mr Polanski and Labour council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali are expected to be the main contenders.