Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure not to block Andy Burnham from making a comeback to parliament, with Angela Rayner planning to urge No 10 to let him stand in a forthcoming byelection.
The prime minister’s allies have been trying to prevent Burnham’s return as a candidate in the Greater Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton, amid fears he could challenge the leadership.
However, a string of Labour MPs and the boss of Britain’s biggest union, Unison, warned on Friday that the party must ensure a democratic process and avoid a stitch-up.
Rayner, the former Labour deputy leader, is understood to be supportive of Burnham standing if he wants to, and is expected to argue he should be allowed to when she speaks at Labour’s north-west regional conference on Saturday.
The timeline for candidates to make a decision is extremely tight, with applications opening at 5pm on Friday, a deadline to seek permission from the national executive committee (NEC) 24 hours later, and applications closing on Sunday shortly before midnight. A candidate will be chosen within a week.
Burnham has not confirmed he intends to run for the seat but he made no secret of his ambitions. In the runup to the party’s conference last year he said many MPs had urged him to run for Labour leader, prompting outrage within No 10 and among cabinet ministers.
He would have to stand down as mayor of Greater Manchester if he were to run. Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, is another possible Labour contender, believed to be favoured by allies of Starmer.
Reports on Friday suggested Burnham could try to line up a high-profile figure to run as Labour candidate for Greater Manchester mayor, such as the footballer Gary Neville, if he were to resign to seek a Westminster seat.
The byelection is shaping up to be a hotly contested race, with Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, not ruling himself out, and George Galloway, the independent former MP and Workers party leader also hinting he could stand. Reform UK could also stand a chance, with possible contenders including the policy chief, Zia Yusuf, or a former Tory MP such as Jonathan Gullis.
The contest was triggered by the resignation of the independent MP Andrew Gwynne on medical grounds, immediately sparking speculation that Burnham could be in parliament in time for any potential leadership challenge to Starmer if May’s local elections are disastrous for Labour.
The Guardian reported on Thursday that allies of Starmer were trying to prevent Burnham’s return. Members of the party’s ruling national executive committee predicted it would be impossible for Burnham to make it through the selection process given the number of Starmer loyalists on the body.
But Andrea Egan, the new general secretary of Unison, warned against “control-freakery” in the party. “I’m sure all trade unionists expect a democratic process for Gorton & Denton in which local party members decide who they want to represent them,” she said on X.
“We’ve seen enough control-freakery in the Labour party and it has done our movement nothing but harm.”
Jo White, a leading MP who runs Labour’s so-called red wall group of MPs, said: “Let the north decide who their Labour candidate should be for the Gorton and Denton byelection. A London stitch-up will be a disaster for Labour.”
One northern backbencher said it wasn’t just a leftwing caucus of MPs who were hoping Burnham would make a return to Westminster. “There’s a few of us thinking it would be a sign of weakness for the PM to block him via the NEC.”
They added that if speculation that Yusuf and Polanski could stand materialised, then Burnham would be the centrist candidate. “I wouldn’t want to see him challenge for leader this year, but I think we need stronger northern representation in government.”
Stephen Kinnock, a health minister, insisted the process would be the same as any other candidate selection, despite rumours it could be limited to an all-women or all black, Asian and minority ethnic shortlist. He said Burnham was “doing a great job in the role that he currently has” and was an “incredibly talented and effective leader as the mayor of Greater Manchester”.
Allies of Burnham suggested there would be significant disquiet among MPs, unions and party members should the leadership try to block him from returning to parliament, where he served as the MP for Leigh from 2001 to 2017.
He has long been believed to be seeking a return to parliament to stand for the leadership if there was a challenge to Starmer, but was thought to have limited options for a byelection in the north-west of England.
Labour won the seat under Gwynne, who was later suspended from the party, with a 13,413 majority in 2024. Reform and the Greens were in second and third place and almost neck and neck, with 14% and 13% of the vote respectively.
