The election of a British Somali who came to the UK as a child refugee is a victory over racism and division
Published 12th Oct 2026, 06:00 BST
The political horizon looks a bit different this week. Another new MP in parliament and, while maybe not with ambitions for immediate leadership this time, she is a potential indicator that we might finally be emerging from the horrible, dark period. Stability may be about to break out.
The Holborn and St Pancras by-election was billed as a test of Andy Burnham’s leadership against a surging Green party. But instead, a by-election which became engulfed in an unpleasant race row presented its victor as an example of all that is good and the potential benefits of immigration.
Sagal Abdi-Wali is the first British Somali to become an MP having come to the UK as a child refugee in the 1990s. Moreover, her victory over the Greens, hard on the heels of Burnham’s own over Reform in Makerfield, underlines signs of a Labour recovery.
A return to normal politics?
Burnham certainly now looks to be in a more secure position than any Prime Minister since David Cameron. His own party seem, for once, united behind him while the country is, according to vanquished Green candidate and party leader Zack Polanski, willing to give Burnham time to see what he can do.
Speculation will continue to whir about a snap election, and though we cannot rule out a sudden rush of blood to the Prime Minister’s head, I think we may have a general election-free few years. A return to politics as normal, whatever that is.
The immediate post-election analysis of course focussed on that now widely condemned Green party motion on Zionism. To say that it gave Polanski a difficult couple of weeks would be an understatement.
But it is not the whole story. The golden boy of the Green party of England and Wales was defeated by a local candidate. A woman rooted in her community, who has worked hard and wants to repay the country which gave her a new life.
Of course, the pollsters will look at the numbers and the trends, and they are of course significant. But what often matters at least as much is the personal picture a candidate presents to the community. The human choice.
‘The place that gave me a home’
An ambitious man who sees an opportunity to fulfil what he sees as his destiny, or a woman committed to her community? Abdi-Wali represents the best of this country and what we can do, and have done, for generations of people fleeing persecution.
We took in her family, gave them a fresh start and she has spent her life giving back to her community. Or, in her words: “I promise I will work every day to do whatever I can and all I can to improve your life and to improve the life of you and your family... to represent the place that gave me a home and my family a home, gave me opportunity and helped shape the person I am today… I hope this moment also says something about who gets to belong.”
I am not often proud of the election victory of another party or the community which delivers it. But I am this time. Racism and division lost. What we see on that horizon, I’m sure, is hope.
Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West