Nigel Farage warned the Gorton and Denton by-election was a “victory for sectarian voting and cheating”. Labour was pushed into third place in the former stronghold behind Zack Polanski’s party and Reform UK.

In a post on X, Reform leader Mr Farage sad: “This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating. Matt Goodwin was a great candidate for us. Roll on the elections on May 7th. It will be goodbye Starmer and goodbye to the Tory party.”

Concerns have been raised about people forcing family members to vote in a certain way in the contest.

Election observer group Democracy Volunteers warned it had witnessed “concerningly high levels” of family voting – an illegal practice where two voters use one polling booth and potentially direct each other on voting.

Meanwhile, the Greens faced accusations of sectarian politics by sharing campaign material in languages including Urdu and Bengali calling on voters to “punish” Labour over Gaza.

One video showed Sir Keir Starmer shaking hands with Indian PM Narendra Modi, who is unpopular in Pakistan, and David Lammy with Israeli leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

Reform candidate Matt Goodwin said: “We are losing our country. A dangerous Muslim sectarianism has emerged.

“We have only one general election left to save Britain. Vote Reform every chance you get.

“I will continue the fight. I will always fight for you. I will stand at the next general election. Matt.”

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New Green MP Hannah Spencer hit out at her election rivals in a speech following her win.

She said: “I won’t accept this victory tonight without calling out politicians and divisive figures who constantly scapegoat and blame our communities for all the problems in society.”

Asked in a BBC interview about accusations of sectarianism and why the image of Sir Keir with Mr Modi was used, she said: “I’ve just been out every day talking to people, listening to people and when people weren’t able to access information in a way that other people might, we tried to give literature and information in a language they speak and I’m really proud we did that.”