On 8 October, voters in the Holborn and St Pancras constituency will choose their next MP. A win in this seat, which has returned Labour MPs for decades, would be a feather in the cap of the Green Party after Sir Keir Starmer stood down from the House of Commons at the start of September, shortly after leaving office as prime minister. Labour are confident of holding on, but the Greens also have high hopes of winning their first London seat - and there are 13 other candidates in the mix all hoping to take this central London constituency.
BBC London spoke to five of the leading candidates. Zack Polanski, the Green Party candidate, told BBC London he was "feeling confident or I wouldn't have put my hat in the ring in the first place, but I'm not complacent". He said he would "work with the Labour government constructively on the things we agree with".
He added: "But where they're letting us down on things like housing, on nationalising Thames Water, on tackling the climate crisis - they're talking about drilling for new oil and gas - voting Green and sending me to Parliament is a way to keep this Labour government in check." Polanski, who is a member of the London Assembly and leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, said people in the constituency "desperately need change". "People are telling me over and over again they can't afford the cost of housing, they need more council housing. "Renters who need rent control, leaseholders who need justice for leaseholders.
The government said they'd end this feudal system of leasehold and then haven't taken the action." When asked about the last time he ran in Camden, as a Liberal Democrat candidate for the council, he said: "I think in politics we need less politicians who treat political parties like football teams. "Someone picks a team and they have to stick with it for life no matter what they do. "Actually, there's lots of people including Liberal Democrats in this constituency that will recognise I'm the only person in this constituency who can beat Labour." Sagal Abdi-Wali, Labour's candidate, said the campaign had been "really good" so far.
She told BBC London: "It's quite a big deal politically, absolutely, "Andy Burnham's first by-election, standing against the Green Party leader; yeah, quite a big test for the party... you have the responsibility to deliver." Abdi-Wali, whose family came to London from Somalia as refugees in the 1990s when she was a child, has been the leader of Camden Council since May. She told BBC London: "For me, I'm just so excited. "We've got an opportunity to make sure that we send a Labour member of Parliament that would be really local and really visible and committed to this area, someone who comes from this area.
"I grew up in this area my whole life. It's made me, Camden made me who I am, and to be able to now represent us in Parliament will be such a major thing." Abdi-Wali acknowledged there were problems with housing and crime in the constituency. "I want to make sure that particularly with housing, for instance, it's an issue.
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