Andy Burnham 'Disappointed And Concerned' By Move To Block His Bid To Stand As Labour MP

Andy Burnham has said he is “disappointed” by the decision to block him from standing as a Labour candidate in the upcoming by-election and “concerned” about the repercussions.

The mayor of Greater Manchester threw his hat into the ring for the Gorton and Denton by-election on Saturday after Andrew Gwynne stepped down.

But, as the directly elected mayor, Burnham – who served in the cabinet under Gordon Brown – had to seek approval from the National Executive Committee (NEC) to be considered as a Labour candidate.

Eight of its 10 members voted against allowing him to stand, with only one member voting in favour of letting him run and one abstaining.

The prime minister was among those who voted to stop Burnham’s bid to return to Westminster.

Burnham is often seen as a challenger to Keir Starmer and allies feared that his presence in Westminster may have destabilised the prime minister’s government.

In a post on X, the Labour politician wrote: “I am disappointed by today’s decision and concerned about its potential impact on the elections ahead of us.

“To whoever is Labour’s candidate and to our members in Manchester and Tameside: you will have my full support in this fight and I’ll be there whenever you need me.”

He added: “Tomorrow I return with full focus to my role as Mayor of GM, defending everything we have built in our city-region over many years. I decided to put myself forward to prevent the divisive politics of Reform from damaging that. We are stronger together and let’s stay that way.”

But the NEC’s move has sparked a major backlash from within the Labour Party, with one MP telling HuffPost UK that many backbenchers feel it was a “cowardly” decision.

Senior Labour figures including energy secretary Ed Miliband and deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell had previously said they thought Burnham should be allowed to run.

The Labour Party issued a statement defending the NEC on Sunday, saying allowing Burnham to run would have triggered an “unnecessary election for the position of Greater Manchester mayor”. 

It claimed this “would have a substantial and disproportionate impact on party campaign resources ahead of the local elections and elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd in May”.

It added: “Although the party would be confident of retaining the mayoralty, the NEC could not put Labour’s control of Greater Manchester at any risk. ”

Housing and local government secretary Steve Reed told the BBC that it was not the right time for Burnham to return to parliament.

He said the NEC voted against it because “of the huge inconvenience to two million voters across Greater Manchester of having a by-election for a new mayor”.

“I know that’s disappointing for Andy,” Reed said. “But it’s good news for the people of Greater Manchester because he’s been doing such a good job as the mayor there.”

He claimed “voters don’t like elections that come mid-term” adding that “in due course, I look forward to seeing Andy back in parliament”.