Everyone says the same thing as Green candidate refuses to shake hands with Reform winner . hyn
Fury has erupted after a Green Party councillor candidate refused to shake hands with Reform UK‘s winning candidate during a by-election in Cornwall. Abigail Hubbucks awkwardly declined to shake hands with Lyndon Harrison as it was announced he had stormed to victory in the Newquay by-election.
Tense video footage shows the moment Mr Harrison extends his hand to shake Ms Hubbucks’s hand, but he quickly pulls it back as she tells him she won’t shake his hand. She then walks off, leaving him with the other candidates.
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Mr Harrison for Reform UK won the seat with 645 votes, while the Greens’ Ms Hubbucks came second with 529 votes.
Many commentators took to X to complain about Ms Hubbucks’ lack of sportsmanship, with some branding her “rude” and “childish”.
Matt Casey posted: “Green Party councillor candidate Abigail Hubbucks refuses to shake hands with Reform’s winning candidate Lyndon Harrison. The Greens are children playing at politics.”
Paul sales said: “This goes to show how pathetically childish the Green Party is!”
Marcus Gilbert added: “Utterly pathetic. The greens show how to promote divisive behaviour.”
Abigail Hubbucks awkwardly declined to shake hands with Lyndon Harrison (Image: X)
Reacting to the moment he was snubbed, Mr Harrison, the new member of Cornwall Council for the Newquay Porth & Tretherras division, told CornwallLive: “I’m rather sad that the young lady in the Green Party couldn’t shake my hand at the end. I think that does say an awful lot about the movement.
“They’re not the party of the environment anymore. They are a very different, very dangerous, creation.
“If they cannot show basic courtesy in defeat, how can they be trusted to represent the whole community? This is not progress, it is divisive and unprofessional.”
But Drew Creek, the Green councillor for Newquay Trenance and Mayor of Newquay, defended Ms Hubbucks’ actions.
He argued that shaking hands with Reform would “normalise and accept hate”.
He also claimed she had politely refused to shake his hand due to comments he allegedly made on the campaign trail.
A Green Party Cornwall spokesman told The Express: “The way hate normalises itself is by asking you to shake its hand. To smile for the cameras. To treat it as just another point of view.
“Abigail refused to do that. Quietly. Calmly. Without drama.
“Because you can respect a democratic result without legitimising what someone stands for.”
Everyone Says the Same Thing as Green Candidate Refuses to Shake Hands with Reform Winner
A Cornwall council by-election produced an unusually tense moment after Green Party candidate Abigail Hubbucks declined to shake hands with Reform UK’s Lyndon Harrison following his victory.
Harrison had defeated Hubbucks by 645 votes to 529 in the Newquay Porth and Tretherras contest, retaining the seat for Reform UK. The result itself was notable, but the reaction at the count quickly became a separate talking point after Harrison offered his hand and Hubbucks declined.
The incident prompted sharply different interpretations from the two sides.
Harrison described the refusal as disappointing and criticised what he regarded as poor sportsmanship. Green representatives, meanwhile, defended Hubbucks’ decision and said that accepting the democratic result did not require her to endorse or normalise Reform’s political positions.
The exchange became a small but revealing episode in a wider contest that demonstrated the increasingly fragmented nature of politics in Cornwall.
A narrow Reform victory
The Newquay Porth and Tretherras by-election took place on 23 April 2026 following the death of Reform councillor Kevin Towill.
Six candidates contested the seat.
Harrison won with 645 votes, giving Reform 30.2 per cent of the vote. Hubbucks finished second with 529 votes, or 24.8 per cent. Independent candidate Topher Chard was third with 361 votes, followed by Liberal Democrat Sandy Carter on 349. The Conservatives received 132 votes and Labour 120. Turnout was approximately 37 per cent.
The result meant Reform retained the council seat, but the relatively narrow margin made the Greens’ performance significant.
Hubbucks was only 116 votes behind Harrison.
For a party that had not previously held the Cornwall Council seat, finishing within striking distance of Reform represented a substantial improvement in its local performance.
The Cornwall Green Party subsequently described the result as an encouraging second-place finish after what it called a hard-fought contest.
The handshake that became the story
After the result was announced, Harrison attempted to shake Hubbucks’ hand.
She declined.
Harrison later said that he was “rather sad” that his opponent would not shake his hand. He argued that the democratic process had been completed and that a defeated candidate would normally congratulate the winner. He described the refusal as disappointing.
The incident quickly attracted attention because handshakes at election counts are traditionally regarded as a symbolic gesture of accepting the result.
But Hubbucks and her supporters interpreted the moment differently.
Newquay mayor Drew Creek, who represents the Green Party, defended her decision. He argued that respecting the result did not require Green representatives to treat Reform’s political positions as legitimate simply because the party had won the vote.
That response illustrated the depth of disagreement between the parties.
For Harrison, the handshake represented ordinary democratic courtesy.
For Green representatives, refusing it was presented as a deliberate political statement.
Why the moment attracted so much attention
Election-night disagreements are not unusual.
What made this episode notable was the symbolism attached to such a simple gesture.
A handshake can mean congratulations, acceptance of the result or recognition of a political opponent as part of the same democratic process.
But political parties can also regard symbolic gestures as meaningful statements about legitimacy and values.
That is particularly relevant when the parties involved occupy sharply different positions on issues such as immigration, national identity and the role of government.
The Green Party has frequently criticised Reform UK’s political rhetoric and policies, while Reform has accused established parties and the Greens of avoiding concerns raised by voters over issues such as immigration and public services.
The disagreement at Newquay therefore reflected a broader political divide rather than merely a dispute over manners.
Green Party defends its candidate
The Green Party’s local response was emphatic.
Drew Creek argued that Hubbucks could respect the democratic result without “legitimising” what Reform stands for. He described the refusal as a calm decision rather than an act of confrontation.
The Cornwall Green Party itself focused more broadly on the election result.
In its post-election statement, Hubbucks said she was grateful to those who voted for her and described the campaign as encouraging despite the defeat. She also argued that the narrow margin demonstrated growing support for the Greens in the area.
The party also made several criticisms of the campaign itself, including allegations concerning Reform’s campaign spending and the distribution of campaign material.
Those allegations were part of the political dispute surrounding the contest and were presented by the Greens as an explanation for the intensity of the campaign.
They should be distinguished from the independently recorded election result itself.
Reform’s perspective
From Reform’s perspective, the central fact was straightforward: Harrison had won.
The party retained the council seat despite facing a stronger Green challenge than in the previous contest.
Harrison’s criticism of the handshake was therefore framed around democratic convention.
His argument was essentially that political opponents can disagree strongly while still recognising the result and congratulating the winner.
That interpretation is common in British election-night traditions, where defeated candidates frequently congratulate successful candidates even when their political disagreements remain profound.
Whether a handshake is required is, however, a matter of political convention rather than an electoral rule.
There was no effect on the validity of the result.
Harrison remained the elected councillor regardless of whether Hubbucks shook his hand.
A six-way contest
The result becomes even more interesting when the complete vote distribution is examined.
Reform and the Greens together accounted for more than half of all votes cast.
Reform received 30.2 per cent and the Greens 24.8 per cent, while the independent candidate received 16.9 per cent and the Liberal Democrats 16.3 per cent. Conservatives and Labour were significantly further behind.
This was not therefore a straightforward two-party contest.
Four candidates other than Harrison finished with enough support to influence the final result.
That fragmentation is important because the winner’s 116-vote margin was smaller than the combined totals of several other candidates.
It means that the final outcome cannot simply be interpreted as evidence that every voter who rejected the Greens actively supported Reform.
The electoral system records first-choice votes, not the reasons behind each individual decision.
Labour’s sixth-place finish
One of the most striking aspects of the contest was Labour’s performance.
The Labour and Co-operative candidate Suzanne Featherstone received just 120 votes, placing sixth out of six candidates.
That result added to the wider debate about the changing political landscape in Cornwall.
Labour had historically been a major national political force, but in this particular contest it was substantially behind Reform, the Greens, an independent candidate, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.
The Cornwall Green Party highlighted Labour’s performance in its post-election statement, arguing that the result demonstrated how political support was shifting in the region.
However, a single council by-election cannot by itself establish a nationwide trend.
Local elections are affected by candidate recognition, local issues, turnout, campaigning and the circumstances that triggered the contest.
The death of Kevin Towill
The by-election itself was caused by the death of Kevin Towill.
Towill had become Cornwall Council’s first Reform UK councillor after defecting from the Conservatives in 2025. He subsequently died in February 2026 at the age of 46.
His death created the vacancy and triggered the contest.
The circumstances gave the election additional significance for Reform because retaining the seat meant the party continued to hold the division.
Harrison therefore entered the contest seeking to preserve a seat that Reform had only recently acquired.
The Greens, meanwhile, saw an opportunity to establish themselves as the principal challenger.
The final result gave both parties something to point to: Reform retained the seat, while the Greens finished much closer than Labour or the traditional opposition parties.
More than a handshake
The dispute over the handshake may have attracted attention because it was easy to understand visually and emotionally.
But the election itself contained more substantial political information.
It showed Reform defending a council seat in Cornwall, the Greens making a strong second-place challenge and Labour falling to sixth.
It also demonstrated the extent to which local political competition has become more fragmented.
Rather than a traditional Labour-Conservative contest, voters were choosing among six candidates representing different political movements and an independent.
That is a significant feature of contemporary British local politics.
What the incident says about political culture
The disagreement also raises a broader question about how politicians should behave towards opponents.
One interpretation is that democratic politics requires a degree of courtesy even when disagreements are profound.
Another is that politicians are not obliged to participate in symbolic gestures that they believe could be interpreted as approval of positions they strongly oppose.
Neither interpretation changes the electoral result.
Harrison won the seat.
Hubbucks finished second.
The voters’ decision was legally determined by the ballots cast, not by what happened after the count.
The handshake therefore mattered primarily as a symbol.
The bigger picture
The Newquay Porth and Tretherras by-election was ultimately a small local contest, but it captured several of the tensions visible across British politics in 2026.
Reform is competing for support in areas where established parties have traditionally been dominant.
The Greens are attempting to turn growing support into elected representation.
Labour is facing competition from multiple directions.
And political disagreements are becoming increasingly visible not only in Parliament but also at local election counts.
The refusal to shake hands became the most memorable image from the contest, but the numbers tell a more complicated story.
Reform won by 116 votes.
The Greens came close behind.
An independent and the Liberal Democrats both attracted substantial support.
The Conservatives finished fifth and Labour sixth.
Whether the result represents a lasting change in Cornwall’s political landscape will require future elections to determine.
For now, however, the episode demonstrates that even a small council by-election can become a focal point for much larger arguments about political identity, democratic courtesy and the changing balance between Britain’s parties.
