Labour to include Burnham in candidate selection for Makerfield by-election

Helen Corbett, Press Association Political Correspondent

Andy Burnham will be among the potential Labour candidates to stand in the Makerfield by-election, the party’s ruling body has said.

The Greater Manchester Mayor declared he would seek permission from Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to contest the by-election after the current MP, Josh Simons, announced on Thursday he would quit Parliament to make way for Mr Burnham.

If successful, Mr Burnham is widely expected to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the party leadership.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee has today given permission to Andy Burnham to stand in the candidate selection process in the forthcoming by-election for the Makerfield constituency.”

Applications for the selection process open today (Friday) and will close on Monday, the NEC has decided.

Mr Burnham’s previous bid to contest a by-election, in Gorton and Denton, was rejected by an NEC’s officers committee, which included Sir Keir.

Labour expects a stiff challenge from Reform UK in Makerfield, with Mr Simons securing a majority of just 5,399 over Nigel Farage’s party at the 2024 general election.

Since then, Labour’s polling collapse and Reform’s surge have seen their positions reverse.

This month’s local elections saw Reform win every council ward in the Makerfield constituency, securing around half the vote, while Labour won only a little more than a quarter.

But Mr Burnham could benefit from his strong personal following across the North West, where he enjoys a net favourability rating of 24% according to pollster Ipsos – considerably higher than any of the party leaders or the Labour Party itself.

Expensive

The election could prove expensive, especially as a victory for Mr Burnham would trigger another by-election for the Greater Manchester mayoralty.

A by-election in Makerfield alone could cost the taxpayer up to £226,000, the most the area’s returning officer can claim from the Treasury to cover the cost of running the poll.

But the cost of a mayoral by-election in Greater Manchester would run into the millions, with the 2024 mayoral election costing the taxpayer £4.7 million.

That contest would have to take place within 35 working days, effectively seven weeks, of Mr Burnham becoming an MP.

Wes Streeting is among those who have backed Mr Burnham’s bid to fight the impending by-election, saying Labour needs “our best players on the pitch”.

Allies of Mr Streeting said the former health secretary, who resigned on Thursday, would be a candidate in any forthcoming leadership battle.

They added Mr Streeting had made clear in his resignation letter that he wanted a contest to feature “the broadest set of candidates possible”.

Joanne Thomas, general secretary of Usdaw and chairwoman of the Tulo group of Labour-affiliated trade unions, said her union’s representatives on the NEC would back Mr Burnham’s candidacy.

Usdaw has two representatives on Labour’s NEC, including one who sat on the smaller officers committee that blocked Mr Burnham from contesting Gorton and Denton.

Meanwhile, one of Sir Keir’s key Cabinet allies has warned against a leadership challenge even if Mr Burnham does return to Westminster.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed claimed the party would suffer further damage at the ballot box if it pursued a contest as the Conservatives did in their final years in office.

He told Sky News: “We’re in power. We were sent here by the British public to deliver change. We promised the fastest-growing economy in the G7, this first quarter this year. We’ve done it.

“We promised to cut NHS waiting lists. Yesterday we saw the biggest monthly fall for 18 years.

“Why would we throw that away to engage in the chaos that consumed the Conservatives?”

General election

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has argued that a new leader should call a general election if they wanted to deviate significantly from Labour’s 2024 manifesto.

She told the Press Association: “Labour were elected on a particular mandate. Anyone who does not want to follow that mandate should call a general election.”

Meanwhile, candidate selection processes are already under way for Reform UK and the Greens.

Last week’s local election results suggest the contest could be a two-horse race between Reform and Mr Burnham, though Zack Polanski’s party said it was “looking forward to the campaign”.

“We’ve learned from our campaigning and wins in Gorton and Denton and the recent local elections, and we’ve shown we can beat Reform,” a Green spokesperson said.