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‘Hannah the Plumber’ is used to not fitting in.

From being a 16-year-old girl in a college class dominated by boys and men, to walking into council meetings in work gear among rows of suited councillors, Hannah Spencer says she has spent much of her life questioning whether she belongs.

Even now, as the Green Party candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election, she admits she sometimes still feels like an outsider in politics.

But in times of self-doubt, she returns to the same question she asked herself as a teenager: ‘Why should I not be here?’

We meet at the Green Party’s campaign hub in Gorton on a busy weekday evening. The space hums with volunteers returning from canvassing, leaflets spread across tables. We’re taking respite from the hustle and bustle in a lounge upstairs.

Ms Spencer has been out meeting constituents on the doorstep all day. She is tired but alert, speaking with conviction. Her candidacy has drawn attention not just because of her politics, but because of who she is: a plumber trying to enter Westminster.

She has shown throughout the campaign that she doesn’t shy away from confrontation. At a BBC hustings this week, she accused Reform UK candidate Matt Goodwin of divisive politics, saying attacks like the Manchester arena bombing happen ‘because people like you are dividing people’.

The remark prompted backlash. Mr Goodwin responded: “So I’m responsible for the Manchester Evening News arena bombing now?”

Ms Spencer tells me she doesn’t regret her words, but wants to clarify them. “I meant the far-right media, where he’s from,” she explains.

“I think he’s tarring people with the same brush. He’s deliberately going after a group of people in our community – Muslims – and painting them all in a certain way,” she claims.

“It’s a really personal thing to talk to anybody who lived here when that (the Arena bomb) happened. I lived in this constituency when that attack happened, and nobody here will do anything other than condemn the attacker and the circumstances that led up to it – the failures of the security services. But it’s just used to say that Muslims are all bad people.”

She draws a distinction between voters and political leaders. “I don’t blame anyone for considering Reform as an option to vote for,” she says. “But I blame people like him when they’ve got a huge platform and they use it to spread hatred and misinformation.”

Immigration has become one of the defining issues of the by-election campaign. Ms Spencer acknowledges public concern, but argues the debate has become too focussed on ‘demonising people’.

“I think it’s right to listen to people’s concerns about immigration. People are really angry about a system that is really broken and fails human beings,” she says.

“At the heart of the immigration system is people who have come here, either fleeing persecution or torture, because they know they can come here and contribute…We need people.”

She points to Greater Manchester’s own history. “We’re a city region that is built from decades of immigration. Levenshulme is an example of Irish people that came here in the 60s and 70s and now it’s a beautifully diverse place, and we should be protecting that whilst also understanding the concerns that people have,” she adds.

Often, she says immigration is not the real source of voters’ worries.

“When people might be concerned about immigration, actually, after a conversation with them, the concern is about their kids not getting into a good school or not getting a GP appointment,” she explains. “And those things aren’t because of immigration. Unless you’re willing to have a conversation with someone, you won’t find that common ground.”

What can a plumber offer in Westminster?

Ms Spencer’s campaign is built on the premise that her working life gives her insight into those everyday pressures. Tool theft, for example, is something she has experienced first hand.

“I had all my tools stolen about six months ago, which most trade people have had happen to them,” she explains. Theft across all industries, she says, ‘really hits local and independent businesses’.

She plans to introduce legislation to tackle tool theft if elected, arguing that Westminster lacks people who understand such issues.

“I think it’s a real area that shows because we don’t have that diversity of being in politics people just don’t get it,” she adds.

But while supporters see authenticity in Hannah the Plumber, critics question whether lived experience translates into legislative skill. But Ms Spencer is unapologetic about not following a traditional route into politics and leaning into her trade in her campaign.

“I know from going into eight houses a day, what I see in front of me. How is that not as valuable as what he’s read in a book?” she says. “To me, it’s more valuable because we don’t have enough of it at the minute. That has been the really brilliant thing about this campaign. It’s already shifted what a politician should be.

“[There’s] this idea of what a politician looks like, which is often a 50-year-old man in a suit who’s been to really posh places. I hope that we can smash that apart and show that it can be anybody who can get into Parliament,” she adds.

She also argues that her role as a councillor in Hale, where she leads the Green Party on Trafford Council, has prepared her.

“I’ve navigated my way through a political system that is challenging and I think it’s deliberately designed to keep people like me out,” Ms Spencer says. “Every time I’ve hit a brick wall I’ve literally smashed it down. I do feel confident that I already have the political skills to navigate Westminster.”

‘The services we all need to be happy and healthy are broken’

From fixing homes, she hopes to go onto fixing Britain – but what’s most broken? For Ms Spencer, its public services, the NHS and cost of living.

“It’s the things that are directly in front of us. Our streets are full of litter, fly tipping, all these things that could be fixed that just the council have just completely lost control of,” she says. “We’ve got Labour councillors, Labour MP, Labour mayor, and it’s just not working, but the services that we need to access that we all need to be happy and healthy are broken.”

The NHS, she says, shows the scale of the problem. “If you manage to get a GP appointment, then you’ve got to pay for your prescription, which a lot of people just can’t do,” she explains.

“I know in Parliament, I would fight for a better NHS. Free prescriptions, free dentistry, free eye care, free hearing aids – everything that you need to be happy and healthy should be free, and can be free as well.”

Her answer to the inevitable question – how to pay for it – is clear. “We want a tax on the super, super rich. We’ve not caught up with how rich people are getting. That gap between the super rich and the rest of us has never been wider,” she explains.

The Green Party proposed a one per cent tax on assets over £10 million, rising to two per cent for billionaires.

“Everybody will benefit. Even the billionaires will be better off if they’re part of a society that’s working better, where people are happier and more productive,” she adds. “[Green Party leader Zack Polanksi] made a point of saying it’s not plumbers and hairdressers that we’re going after. You already pay enough, it’s the people right at the top.”

To address the cost of living crisis, the party also wants utilities returned to public ownership. “We’ve had a good go at privatisation, and it just hasn’t worked,” she says. “We should not be paying shareholders billions when people can’t afford to put their heating on.”

On antisocial behaviour – another major concern in Gorton and Denton – Ms Spencer rejects claims from Reform UK that Green drug policy would worsen the problem. Asked whether she wants to legalise all drugs, she responds: “No, and we’re really clear that we want to regulate drugs.

“This drug law that’s been in place for 60 years isn’t working. People can already buy Class A drugs on the street. Children can already access these things…”We’re saying we want to make it harder for people to access it and we want to remove the criminal networks that have their greasy mitts in our communities.”

A tight race

Both Gorton and Denton have long voted Labour, but the upcoming by-election is unusually competitive. According to Green Party canvassing data seen exclusively by the Manchester Evening News, based on 18,000 conversations, Reform UK is predicted to win 35.7 per cent of the vote, just ahead of the Greens on 35.5 per cent, with Labour on 22.5 per cent.

Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia tells voters the ‘choice is between Labour and Reform’, but Ms Spencer claims the numbers say otherwise.

“I think it shows how out of touch they are that they are not seeing how many people have refused to vote Labour again,” she says. “I don’t think they realise how many people at the last election were in that ‘one last chance’ mindset…they were also promised change. Actually, the only change we’ve seen is for the worst.”

She knows some lifelong Labour voters fear splitting the vote and letting Reform in, but her advice to them is simple: “Vote with your gut.”

“Sure you can send Labour a message and get Reform out, but you can also get someone who really cares about the area, who is going to work hard and stand up in Parliament and hold Labour to account,” she says.

Away from debates and polling figures, Ms Spencer traces her politics back to quieter influences, including her dogs. She has four greyhounds – Olive, Judy, Forest and Will – but it is Graham, a ‘very unusual’ dog she owned while living in the constituency and lost a few years ago, that she says shaped her mindset.

“Politically, we’re made to feel that sometimes we’re very different from people, maybe because we look different or sound different,” she says. “Actually, we have a lot in common with each other…It’s that simple thing that all humans want – a warm and secure home, food in your belly and just a nice life.”

If elected as MP, she will leave plumbing behind, but not the identity it gave her. “I think while you’re in politics, it’s got to be your focus,” she explains. “That’s always going to be a part of my identity…I always will be Hannah the Plumber.”

Ms Spencer believes her campaign has already challenged perceptions of who gets to be a politician. But whether voters in Gorton and Denton are ready to take a chance on Hannah the Plumber will be decided in the ballot box.

Regards,

Greg_L-W..

 

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