🔗 Share this article The Greater Manchester Mayor Would 'Probably' Have Won Gorton and Denton Byelection, Says Labour Deputy Leader Labour's deputy leader has indicated that Andy Burnham could have triumphed in the recent Manchester byelection, as she urged her party to leverage the popular Greater Manchester mayor. An Unexpected Result for the Green Party Overturning a substantial 13,000-vote Labour majority from the last general election, a local Green councillor, a local plumber, became the Green Party's fifth MP on Friday. This happened in an area that had elected Labour MPs for almost one hundred years. The Reform Party's Matt Goodwin finished second, just ahead of the official Labour contender, Angeliki Stogia. Fresh Questions Over Candidate Decision The surprise result has prompted fresh debate of the party's choice to block Andy Burnham from standing in the seat last month. Speaking to the BBC, Labour's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, remarked, "Andy Burnham likely could have held the seat. I think definitely the Greens wouldn't have targeted the seat in the same way that they did." Powell was the only member of Labour's top decision-making body to vote in favour of allowing Burnham to stand, with eight others, including leader Keir Starmer, voting against. Accepting Responsibility However, she told the BBC she understood "collective responsibility" for the ruling, pointing to worries over triggering a separate election in Greater Manchester. Powell also stressed that her party needed to learn from the reasons for Burnham's widespread popularity in the region. She said people "see in him someone who is fighting for them, someone who is delivering those Labour values and party pledges." "We have to draw on that, leverage Andy Burnham, but also learn from it and reflect on how we could replicate that success nationally," she added. What Comes Next Andy Burnham is understood not to have ruled out having another go at returning to parliament. One ally said, "With all the chaos and turmoil, who knows what might happen. It would be foolish to say he would never." To date, Burnham himself has not publicly spoken on the Gorton and Denton outcome. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on despite calling the poll result "disheartening." Internal Reactions Angela Rayner, a key figure on Labour's left, described the byelection result "a stark warning" for the party. In contrast, the Home Secretary is set to warn against the party shifting leftward in response to the defeat. This comes as the government proposes new laws on tougher immigration measures next week. A source close to the Home Secretary was quoted as saying, "The Labour government should not misinterpret the message from its recent byelection loss. The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is simply incorrect."
Labour's deputy leader has indicated that Andy Burnham could have triumphed in the recent Manchester byelection, as she urged her party to leverage the popular Greater Manchester mayor. An Unexpected Result for the Green Party Overturning a substantial 13,000-vote Labour majority from the last general election, a local Green councillor, a local plumber, became the Green Party's fifth MP on Friday. This happened in an area that had elected Labour MPs for almost one hundred years. The Reform Party's Matt Goodwin finished second, just ahead of the official Labour contender, Angeliki Stogia. Fresh Questions Over Candidate Decision The surprise result has prompted fresh debate of the party's choice to block Andy Burnham from standing in the seat last month. Speaking to the BBC, Labour's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, remarked, "Andy Burnham likely could have held the seat. I think definitely the Greens wouldn't have targeted the seat in the same way that they did." Powell was the only member of Labour's top decision-making body to vote in favour of allowing Burnham to stand, with eight others, including leader Keir Starmer, voting against. Accepting Responsibility However, she told the BBC she understood "collective responsibility" for the ruling, pointing to worries over triggering a separate election in Greater Manchester. Powell also stressed that her party needed to learn from the reasons for Burnham's widespread popularity in the region. She said people "see in him someone who is fighting for them, someone who is delivering those Labour values and party pledges." "We have to draw on that, leverage Andy Burnham, but also learn from it and reflect on how we could replicate that success nationally," she added. What Comes Next Andy Burnham is understood not to have ruled out having another go at returning to parliament. One ally said, "With all the chaos and turmoil, who knows what might happen. It would be foolish to say he would never." To date, Burnham himself has not publicly spoken on the Gorton and Denton outcome. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on despite calling the poll result "disheartening." Internal Reactions Angela Rayner, a key figure on Labour's left, described the byelection result "a stark warning" for the party. In contrast, the Home Secretary is set to warn against the party shifting leftward in response to the defeat. This comes as the government proposes new laws on tougher immigration measures next week. A source close to the Home Secretary was quoted as saying, "The Labour government should not misinterpret the message from its recent byelection loss. The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is simply incorrect."