Andy Burnham Blocked By Labour From Running In By-Election
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, October 2025 (Credit: Milo Chandler/Alamy Live News)
5 min read
Andy Burnham has been blocked from running as the Labour candidate in a parliamentary by-election, after a core group on the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) refused to give him permission to stand.
The Greater Manchester Mayor confirmed on Saturday that he wanted to run as Labour's candidate to replace Andrew Gwynne, the MP for Gorton and Denton, who is standing down on health grounds.
The 'officers group' on Labour's NEC, which includes Prime Minister Keir Starmer himself, as well as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Solicitor General Ellie Reeves and representatives from the GMB and Usdaw unions, met on Sunday at 11am to decide whether to give the sitting mayor permission to stand.
In line with the plan of Starmer allies, which was revealed by PoliticsHome on Thursday, the vote went against Burnham and he was blocked from running.
Deputy leader Lucy Powell, a Burnham ally and Manchester MP, was the only member to vote in favour of allowing Burnham to stand. Eight others – the PM among them – voted to block the mayor. Mahmood, following convention as the meeting's chair, did not vote.
Posting on X later in the day, Burnham said: "I am disappointed by today’s NEC decision and concerned about its potential impact on the important elections ahead of us.
"To whoever is Labour’s candidate and to our members in Manchester and Tameside: you will have my full support and I will 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."
In a morning media round before the meeting, Mahmood emphasised that she would be an “independent” and “impartial” chair of the committee, and said the discussion would be “finely balanced”.
A well-placed NEC source told PoliticsHome that the decision to block Burnham was clear and that "just about everyone spoke". It is understood that Starmer himself led the arguments in favour of blocking.
A Labour Party statement released following the meeting said: "The NEC has decided not to grant Andy Burnham permission to stand.
"The NEC believes that causing an unnecessary election for the position of Greater Manchester Mayor 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. Although the party would be confident of retaining the mayoralty, the NEC could not put Labour’s control of Greater Manchester at any risk.
"Andy Burnham is doing a great job as Mayor of Greater Manchester. We believe it is in the best interests of the party to avoid an unnecessary mayoral election, which would use substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money and resources that are better spent tackling the cost of living crisis.
"We look forward to fighting and winning the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton and the positive campaign ahead, which will be firmly focused on tackling the cost of living and bringing investment to the local area."
Those opposed to Burnham's candidacy have emphasised that the sitting mayor becoming an MP would trigger a mayoral election that would be costly and that Labour would be at risk of losing.
A Labour MP critical of the decision to block Burnham warned that it could benefit other potential leadership challengers, namely Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
"His factional allies may be comfortable with Wes becoming Prime Minister, but I'd hoped he himself would have recognised that this was not in his interests," they said.
A Labour MP who is a member of the Tribune group similarly said: "It does show [Prime Minister's chief of staff Morgan] McSweeney in a strong position and in the end it will harm Starmer."
Another soft left MP added of Streeting: "I assume he will be fired up for a challenge now but the Tribune/centre left are absolutely clear we won't stand for a coronation and there will be a centre left candidate. It's just a shame it can't be Andy."
Pro-Burnham Labour figures predict that if the by-election goes ahead with a different candidate and the seat is lost by Labour, the backlash against the Starmer-led decision to block will be significant.
A northern Labour MP questioned whether Burnham would have been the person best-placed to win the seat, saying: "How do we know that though? There are plenty of capable people in Greater Manchester. We don't know who the wannabe candidates are."
They added: "The Labour Party is more than one person and Andy needs to acknowledge that. Let's rally round whoever our candidate is, take the fight to Reform and the Greens, win the seat and show that only Labour can stand up for Gorton and Denton."
There is no clear mechanism to have the decision overturned, though PoliticsHome understands that NEC members could request an emergency meeting to discuss it.
Whether Burnham allies can now apply enough pressure on the leadership that it can force a reversal of the blocking remains to be seen, but Starmer allies are confident that it will hold.
PoliticsHome understands that former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, now a highly influential backbencher, made known her support for Burnham's bid for candidacy.
London mayor Sadiq Khan, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, plus MPs such as Justin Madders, Karl Turner and Jo White, had also made clear their opposition to blocking him.
The left-wing Unite, Fire Brigades' Union and new Unison general secretary Andrea Egan (who is not a Labour Party member) also publicly opposed the blocking. Sources said the decision by GMB and Usdaw to support the blocking was finely balanced.
Additional reporting by Harriet Symonds.
