ITV's flagship breakfast show Good Morning Britain halted the show just minutes into the edition which aired on Friday February 27, to announce the news that Labour had lost the local election in Gorton and Denton in Greater Manchester. Hosts Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh announced the news that the government had lost one of their safest seats in an area which had been held by Labour for nearly a hundred years.

Hannah Spencer of the Green Party now becomes the new MP for the area, making her the first Green MP in the North of England. Reform UK had to settle for second place in a by-election that Sir Keir Starmer had called "a battle for the soul of the nation".

Singh spoke to reporter Louisa Jameson who was in Manchester about what this meant for the party. "It is absolutely remarkable what they've achieved there overnight," she said. "Over at 10 Downing Street they will certainly be navel gazing and wondering should they [have] let Andy Burnham stand. There's so many questions this morning for Sir Keir Starmer from his own party."

Jameson responded over the background noise. "They are certainly celebrating here, and the reason it is so noisy is because the newest Green Party MP Hannah Spencer has just arrived... It is a remarkable victory for her and for the party in what should have been a safe Labour seat.

"The Greens now have their fifth MP, their first in the north of England and their first ever by election win. She was surrounded by supporters, campaigners, media when she won - she looked a little bit overwhelmed by it all."

Jameson revealed she had been standing beside deputy leader of the Labour Party, Lucy Powell, when the results were announced, and shared her reaction as the show cut to a clip of the politician.

"She was shown a mobile phone with the figures on just before it was officially announced on stage, and I think you can see written on her face what Labour MPs have been telling me darkly for a few weeks now, which is that this exact scenario, a Green win, Reform in second, Labour in third, is their worst nightmare."

She continued: "It raises so many questions, particularly for Keir Starmer and his position now, because he came and campaigned here for Labour [and] threw all their resources here." The hosts then referenced the fact Starmer had prevented popular Labour politician Andy Burnham from running.

"Andy Burnham and Hannah Spencer, the new MP, actually stood against each other for the Greater Manchester mayoralty not two years ago, and Burnham won by more than 375,000 votes," Jameson pointed out.

"The other question is about tactics, because all of the fire from Labour over the last few weeks, and indeed the last year, has been directed at Reform, at Nigel Farage, not at the Green Party.

"This has really blown a hole in Labor's whole argument here that they were the only ones who could beat Reform. So there are going to be lots of Labour MPs now sitting on much smaller majorities, who will be arguing that the party desperately need to change tack."