THE Gorton and Denton by-election has been fought dirty.
That’s just politics in 2026, you may tell me. But surely it doesn’t have to be.
The latest – and one of the most egregious I’ve seen in a while – example was in the form of a leaflet.
Distributed by Labour the day before this crucial Manchester by-election, the results of which will come clear tomorrow morning, it appeared to offer independent “tactical voting” advice urging voters to back Labour to defeat Reform UK.
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The material was presented as coming from a group called “Tactical Choice”, citing “Britain Predicts” as its source.
But the organisation doesn't appear to exist with opponents accusing Labour of fabricating it to bolster its claim. I have not seen any evidence to the contrary.
Established tactical voting sites — including tactical.vote and stopthetories.vote — have instead recommended support for the Green candidate, Hannah Spencer. The contest is widely seen as a three-way race between Labour, the Greens and Reform.
Regardless of the result, it is a worrying state of affairs and an increasingly prominent fixture in modern politics.
Tactical voting will, of course, be a fixture in the upcoming Holyrood elections.
All the Scottish Unionist parties are already pushing out messaging along the lines of: “Vote Reform, get SNP.”
The SNP, meanwhile, are keen to portray it as a two-horse race between them and Nigel Farage’s party.
This is normal. All parties will position themselves one way or another.
Misleading leaflets – be it false claims or dodgy bar charts (above) – have also been distributed by practically all parties over the years. I recall the Scottish LibDems being particularly bad offenders in 2023.
But Scottish Labour appear to have taken the mantle on this front.
Anas Sarwar was forced into “unequivocally” apologising to a maternity campaigner after Scottish Labour invented a quote (above) and attributed it to her on a campaign leaflet distributed to households across Scotland last month.
The party also often distributes flyers that look like fake local or national newspapers.
I reported last year on how, in multiple posts to social media, its activists and politicians have been pictured campaigning with copies of “Scotland’s Voice” (below), for example – which appears to be a multiple page campaign leaflet in the format of a newspaper.
A great morning in Sauchie speaking to voters about our wonderful @ScottishLabour candidate, Suzanne Grahame. Lots of support for Labour. Change is possible next year. pic.twitter.com/bRaIRo4VmN
— Craig Miller (@Craigmiller1986) August 16, 2025
This led to the Society of Editors, which represents around 400 UK national and regional media editors, accusing Scottish Labour of “attempting to mislead voters” with an “absurd practice” that is “damaging to democracy”.
The National approached Scottish Labour and asked them to commit to not employing these tactics in the Holyrood election.
We didn’t receive a response.
The larger issue is that political parties of any persuasion can just get away with it.
The content of campaign material is not regulated by any UK body, other than a number of electoral offences associated with making false statements about the character of another candidate.
An Electoral Commission spokesperson told us in a statement that they “encourage all campaigners to undertake their vital role responsibly and respectfully”.
But they are essentially powerless.
Regardless of the result in the Gorton and Denton by-election, we will just have to hope these dishonest tactics aren’t imported to Scotland in the run-up to May.
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