Senior minister to warn Labour to resist leftward shift after by-election loss

Labour should resist calls to shift leftwards in all areas of policy after its resounding defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election, a senior minister will warn.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to make the case for a new immigration crackdown next week, at the same time the Prime Minister faces intense pressure to shift his party to the left or resign after the by-election loss.

The result of Thursday’s poll saw Labour come third behind Zack Polanski’s Greens and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the previously rock-solid Greater Manchester constituency.

But a source close to the Home Secretary told the Times: “The Labour Government should not learn the wrong lessons from its recent by-election loss.

“The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is just plain wrong.

“Without bold action on migration, the entire future of Britain’s asylum system, the Labour Party and its values will be in jeopardy.”

The Home Secretary is expected to introduce new legislation to overhaul Britain’s asylum system next week, with the aim of blunting the appeal of Reform UK.

It comes after she has visited Denmark, where a social democratic-led government has drastically reduced the number of asylum applications to the lowest number in 40 years and removed 95% of rejected asylum seekers.

Among those calling for a change in direction from Labour’s leadership in the wake of the defeat is former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who said the result should be a “wake-up call” for the party, and called for her colleagues to “rededicate” themselves to “a Labour agenda that puts people first”.

Backbench MP Clive Lewis (Norwich South), meanwhile, told the Press Association that Labour needed “a clean break” or would “lose the country for a generation”.

Sir Keir Starmer on Friday acknowledged it was a “disappointing” result and that voters were “frustrated”, but insisted he would carry on.

The Prime Minister also pledged to “fight against extremes in politics” on both the left and the right that threatened to “tear our country apart”.

Hannah Spencer, a councillor and plumber, emerged victorious for the Greens in Thursday’s by-election with 14,980 votes – a majority of 4,402.

Green leader Zack Polanski spent Friday night on Channel 4’s comedy chat show The Last Leg, where he was quizzed about the party’s victory and various policy areas.

He told the programme the Prime Minister’s framing of the Green Party policy on drugs as a blanket legalisation without any controls was “ridiculous”.

Mr Polanski said: “There are drugs that are dangerous, and those clearly need to be regulated really carefully.

“On the other side of it, I’d say if someone wants a spliff: we are the Green Party. Let them get on with it.”

The Green leader later video-called his new MP, Ms Spencer, during the show, who watched on as he took part in a plastering challenge.

New Gorton and Denton MP Ms Spencer recently took an intensive course in plastering, even as she campaigned for the constituency, according to reports.