What was claimed
The Green Party has confirmed their candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election is Melissa Poulton.
Our verdict
This is incorrect. The Greens had not confirmed their candidate when these posts were shared, and have now confirmed Hannah Spencer will contest the seat.
Posts which incorrectly name the Green Party candidate in the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election have gained thousands of reactions on social media.
The posts on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) say that Melissa Poulton has been “confirmed” or “selected” as the Green Party candidate in the forthcoming by-election due to take place on 26 February.
It was triggered after former Labour minister Andrew Gwynne, who was suspended by the party in 2025, stood down as an MP.
Melissa Poulton had reportedly been announced as the Green Party’s parliamentary candidate for the Bromsgrove constituency in Worcestershire in 2023, although a different candidate, Talia Ellis, actually contested the seat for the Greens in 2024.
But the Green Party had not confirmed who would represent them in the upcoming by-election when many of these posts claiming Melissa Poulton had been chosen were shared.
Their candidate was officially announced today (30 January) as Hannah Spencer. Ms Spencer was also the Green Party candidate in the 2024 Greater Manchester mayoral election.
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We can find no evidence that Melissa Poulton was being considered as a candidate prior to this announcement.
As of 30 January, Labour and the Conservatives are yet to declare their candidates for the Gorton and Denton by-election, with Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats having confirmed theirs.
Before sharing content about elections that you see online, first consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because Melissa Poulton was not confirmed as the Green Party candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election.
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