Camden leader to stand for Keir Starmer's old seat

Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali has been selected as Labour's candidate in the by-election for Sir Keir Starmer's former seat.

Abdi-Wali, who has led the council since May and has been a councillor for Camden Square since 2022, will stand in Holborn and St Pancras on 8 October.

The seat became vacant after Sir Keir, who resigned as prime minister earlier this year, announced on 1 September that he was standing down as an MP, saying it was the right time to go and to focus on international affairs.

Abdi-Wali said she was "delighted that local members have put their trust in me to be Labour's candidate in the area I've grown up in".

She said: "This place welcomed my family as refugees and gave us hope when we needed it most.

"I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to build a life here, serving our community as a councillor, school governor and community activist."

Green Party leader Zack Polanski, a London Assembly member, is seeking his party's nomination but faces a challenge from local councillor Hamza Chowdhury.

Chowdhury has said the constituency does not need "another MP who arrives during an election campaign" and then "disappears once the votes are counted".