Polanski makes his mark as Labour candidate fails to attend election hustings

On Tuesday evening, a five-minute walk from King's Cross train station, Green Party leader Zack Polanski strode into an art gallery to speak at a campaign hustings. But his main rival in the UK parliamentary by-election for Holborn and St Pancras, the Labour Party candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, didn't turn up. "I'm not surprised," one former Labour councillor grumbled. He said he knew Abdi-Wali personally. His wife alleged that "she just does whatever the bosses tell her. She can't do policy". Labour's candidate was scared of being asked tough questions, both of them believed. Mahad, a local resident and pro-Palestine campaigner of Somali heritage, also said he wasn't surprised that Abdi-Wali skipped the hustings, suggesting she might want to avoid scrutiny of her views on Israel and Palestine. The hustings was arranged by the Camden Muslim Network, which was founded in 2024. Organisers told Middle East Eye that the Labour team said Abdi-Wali couldn't attend because of another commitment. Read more: Polanski makes his mark as Labour candidate fails to attend election hustings Green Party leader Zack Polanski (R) and Liberal Democrat candidate Patrick Stillman (L) speak at Holborn and St Pancras hustings at the P21 gallery on Tuesday 22 September 2026 (Imran Mulla/MEE)