The Labor Party has barred Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from standing as a parliamentary candidate, sparking a political backlash.
A 10-strong panel of the party’s ruling National Executive Committee decided on Sunday that Burnham would not be allowed to end her mayoral term early and run as a candidate in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election.
According to an NEC member, his vote was eight versus one against and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was one of those who did not vote.
Burnham said in a post on social media that she was “disappointed” by the decision and was “concerned about its potential impact on the important elections we face”.
He said he would return to his mayoral role “with full focus” on Monday, defending the progress made in Greater Manchester. “I decided to put myself forward to prevent the divisive politics of reform from harming us. We are stronger together and let’s stay that way.”
Burnham said: “The fact that the media was informed of the NEC decision long before I was tells you everything you need to know about the way the Labor Party is run these days. You would think that over 30 years’ service would count for something but sadly not.”
A letter written to the Prime Minister objecting to the decision was circulating among Labor MPs on Sunday night. One signer said its organizers were collecting signatures with the intention of sending it in in the next few days.
The prime minister’s allies feared Burnham would challenge him for the leadership of the party at a time when Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist Reform UK party is surging in the polls and gaining popularity in some of Labour’s core areas.
Burnham has become increasingly critical of Starmer as Labour’s position in the polls deteriorated. In recent months, he has been talking to MPs about a possible return to Westminster to mount a leadership bid.
The NEC member said: “It would be madness and destabilizing to bring in someone who has been openly manoeuvering.”
The Labor leadership is bracing for the anger of dozens of MPs who were supporting Burnham’s bid to return to Westminster.
“There will be a lot of political reaction,” the NEC member admitted.
In a note to party members, Labor general secretary Holly Ridley said that NEC officials had refused permission for Burnham to stand because it would have triggered a costly by-election for the post of Mayor of Greater Manchester.
“This will take substantial financial and organizational resources at a time when the party faces competing priorities,” he wrote.
Candidates interested in the by-election have until Sunday midnight to apply and then the NEC will prepare a long list of names this week.
NEC chairperson Home Secretary Shabana Mehmood is believed to have abstained from voting. He said earlier on Sunday that Labor should avoid engaging in “psychodrama”.
“My clear message to all my colleagues, whether they are in Cabinet, anywhere else in the country, is that we have to decide whether we are going to engage in any psychodrama. I don’t want to do that,” she told Sky News.
“I think we should take Andy at his word – he himself has said that the best person to be prime minister is Keir Starmer.”
Ahead of the decision, the party’s deputy leader Lucy Powell, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan and former deputy leader Angela Rayner all said the NEC should leave the decision to local party members.
Burnham, who previously served as a Labor MP, has been Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 and was re-elected with a landslide in 2024.
In a letter to the NEC on Saturday, he said he wanted to return to Westminster to help the government “move further and faster”, assuring Starmer he would return to “support” his administration, not “undermine it”.
Some MPs supported the decision to dismiss him. A senior Labor MP said: “There needs to be a very clear message to my old friend Andy: get the job done you were elected to do. Don’t cut and run.”
The person added, “How will Labor explain to Manchester voters that he is leaving office early? They have in good conscience hired him to serve the full term.”
“We could lose another UK city mayor to Reform in a by-election, which we don’t need,” the NEC member said. He said that funding a strong campaign for the Greater Manchester mayoralty would probably cost around £1.5 million.
He argued that accepting Burnham as an MP would be damaging to Starmer because he had engaged in such public criticism of the Labor leadership.
“If he hadn’t given up on his criticism of Keir and the economic policies of Rachel (Reeves, the Chancellor) over the last year… I think he could have come back and been a huge asset. I actually think he could be a potential (prime minister) at some point in the future.”
Some MPs fear the move to block Burnham’s Westminster bid is likely to trigger intense Labor infighting and increase the chances of Reform or the Greens losing the Gorton and Denton by-election.
One MP said, “If (the NEC) think they can stop him without causing division in the Labor Party they are crazy.” “Stopping him would probably cause us to lose the by-election, and Keir would have to take personal responsibility for that.”
Another MP said: “It is the party’s responsibility to choose the best possible candidate. If you look at the surveys, that candidate is Andy.”
Veteran left-wing Labor MP Diane Abbott told Times Radio that the decision was “outrageous”, adding: “It’s really damaging to Starmer’s position in the party… He has underestimated how damaging it will be.”
