Starmer faces backlash as Labour blocks Burnham by-election bid

Sir Keir Starmer faces a backlash from Labour MPs and members after Andy Burnham was blocked from standing in a parliamentary by-election.

A 10-strong group from Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), including the Prime Minister himself, voted to deny Mr Burnham permission to stand in Gorton and Denton at a meeting on Sunday.

The NEC cited the cost of fighting a mayoral by-election and the risk of losing the Greater Manchester mayoralty.

But critics accused the Prime Minister and his supporters of blocking Mr Burnham’s candidacy for factional reasons, fearing a leadership challenge from the mayor if he returned to Westminster.

They included backbench MPs such as former cabinet minister Louise Haigh, who said the NEC should reverse its decision “otherwise I think we’ll all come to regret this”, and Simon Opher, who called the decision an “own goal” for Sir Keir’s advisors.

Another backbencher told the Press Association they expected Labour would now lose the Gorton and Denton by-election.

Trade unions also criticised the decision, with the TSSA saying Labour had “lost its way” and the general secretary of Unison, Britain’s largest trade union, saying it was not the way “any democratic organisation should be run”.

Others pointed to a tweet sent by the Prime Minister when he was campaigning for the Labour leadership in 2020, saying candidate selection needed to be “more democratic” and the party should “end NEC impositions of candidates”.

Mr Burnham himself said he was “disappointed” by the decision and “concerned about its potential impact on the important elections ahead of us”.

In a statement on social media, he said he would “return with full focus” to his mayoral job on Monday and urged unity in the face of “the divisive politics of Reform”.

But in a swipe at his party, he said the fact the NEC’s decision had been leaked to the press before he had been informed “tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labour Party is being run these days”.

Labour sources have strenuously denied that the party leaked the decision before informing Mr Burnham, and said they attempted to contact him shortly after the meeting by phone and email.

Other backbenchers backed the NEC’s decision, urging the party to avoid infighting and move on to winning the by-election.

Phil Brickell, who represents the Greater Manchester constituency of Bolton West, said speculation about Mr Burnham’s candidacy in recent days had “seen the Labour Party quickly turn inward… undermining the PM’s efforts at home and abroad”.

Rugby MP John Slinger said the “quick and clear decision” meant the party could “move on from the damaging, introspection and psychodrama of the last week” and “pull together” behind the eventual candidate.