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8 May 2015updated 05 Oct 2023 8:45am

Green party leader Natalie Bennett comes third in Holborn & St Pancras

The Green leader beats the Lib Dems in this central London seat, but Labour's candidate, Keir Starmer, romps home.

By Anoosh Chakelian

The Green party leader, Natalie Bennett, has unsurprisingly missed out on winning safe Labour seat, Holborn & St Pancras.

Labour’s candidate, Keir Starmer, romped home with a 17,048 majority.

But Bennett massively increased her vote share – last time she ran in this seat, she came fourth with 1,480 votes, and this time she came third with 7,013 votes (nearly twice as many as the Lib Dems).

It is an interesting seat, featuring some of Central London’s most deprived, and smartest areas. Lots of students in the area gave the Greens an ounce of hope. Here’s an extract from my report of the seat:

“This central London seat is so varied you need only walk a few streets down from the ruddy red brick and green expanses of Highgate at its northernmost point to the crumbling housing estates of Somers Town, which perch in the glossy glow of King’s Cross station’s newly restored facade. Or you could stroll northwest from the buzzing Seven Dials junction of bars, bistros and theatres in Covent Garden up to the orderly patchwork of Regent’s Park’s rose garden.

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“The grandfatherly Labour MP, Frank Dobson, has presided over this concentrated tangle of cultures for 34 years. Next year will be his last. A respected figure among constituents – Labour or otherwise – it is this former health secretary who has kept Holborn and St Pancras a cosily safe Labour seat for over three decades.”

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