Andy Burnham has been blocked from standing as a Labour candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election, after the party’s ruling body stepped in amid growing concerns over the cost of replacing him — and the political fallout inside the party.
As a directly elected mayor, Burnham had to get approval from Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), after he applied to be a candidate on Saturday. But the NEC has now stopped him from entering the contest.
Several Labour sources had said the NEC could block Burnham’s application on the grounds that a mayoral election would be expensive for the party. It would also be costly for the taxpayer, with the last mayoral election costing around £4.7m.
The move is likely to infuriate Labour MPs and some ministers who said local party members should have had the option of choosing the Greater Manchester mayor as the candidate.
Some NEC members were concerned about an expensive mayoral election to replace Burnham, while allies of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer feared he could mount a leadership challenge, should he return to Westminster.
One senior Labour source who had been supportive of Burnham’s candidacy said: “They’re gambling the PM’s whole premiership on winning a very hard by-election without their best candidate. It is madness.”
The decision was made by 10 members of the NEC, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Earlier, she told the BBC allowing elected mayors to run as candidates in parliamentary by-elections had “organisational implications” for the party.
The decision represents a big political gamble by allies of the prime minister, risking fresh internal tensions at a time when Labour is consistently trailing Reform UK in national opinion polls.
