Hannah Spencer: The plumber and plasterer heading to Parliament
The lifelong Greater Manchester resident joined the Green Party in 2022.
After she overturned Labour’s majority in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Hannah Spencer’s victory speech was a little bit different.
After the standard vows to stand up for her community, the plumber-turned-parliamentarian apologised to her customers who may need drains clearing or leaks fixing.
“Now, to my customers, I’m sorry, but I think I might have to cancel the work that you have booked in, because I’m heading to Parliament,” joked Ms Spencer, who becomes the Green Party’s fifth MP.
“And when I get there, I will make space for everyone doing jobs like mine.
“We will finally get a seat at the table.”
Born in Bolton, the lifelong Greater Manchester resident joined the Green Party in 2022, and became a councillor the following year.
She left school at 16 and studied a technical certificate at Bolton College before training for a national vocational qualification (NVQ) in plumbing with a housing trust.
While serving on Trafford Council, Ms Spencer ran as the Green Party candidate in the 2024 mayoral election in Greater Manchester.
The Gorton and Denton by-election was her second bid to become an MP after she finished fifth in Warrington North in the 2024 general election.
At 34, she is the Green Party’s youngest MP.
Ms Spencer lives in Trafford and in her work as a plumber retrofitted houses to make them more energy efficient.
During her by-election campaign she was also training to be a plasterer.
“I didn’t grow up wanting to be a politician,” she said in her victory speech on Friday.
“I’m a plumber, and two weeks ago, during all this, I also qualified as a plasterer, because even in chaos, even under pressure, I get things done.”
Ms Spencer supported Zack Polanski in his bid to become the Green Party leader last year, and in September was appointed the party’s migration and refugee support spokeswoman.
She has campaigned against greyhound racing and has four rescue greyhounds, which she took with her on parts of the campaign trail.
Celebrating her 4,402 majority after she secured 14,980 votes, Ms Spencer said: “We have shown that we don’t have to accept being turned against each other at all, and we did this with the people who live here, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, just as we have always done in this constituency and in the whole of Greater Manchester, because this is Manchester, and we do things differently here.”
In her emotional victory speech, she said people were being “bled dry” and were “sick of our hard work making other people rich”.
