Andy Burnham Was 'Likely' to Have Won the Recent Byelection, States Labour Deputy Leader

The party's second-in-command has suggested that Andy Burnham would have won the recent Manchester byelection, as she called for her party to make more use of the popular Greater Manchester mayor.

A Surprise Victory for the Green Party

Overcoming a sizable 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 consistently returned Labour MPs for almost one hundred years.

Reform UK's Matt Goodwin placed second, narrowly beating the official Labour contender, Angeliki Stogia.

Fresh Questions Over Blocked Candidacy

The unexpected outcome has prompted renewed questioning of the party's choice to prevent Andy Burnham from contesting the seat last month.

Speaking to the BBC, Labour's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, stated, "He probably would have held the seat. I think definitely the Greens wouldn't have gone after the seat in the same way that they did."

Powell was the only member of Labour's ruling national executive committee to support allowing Burnham to stand, with eight others, including leader Keir Starmer, voting against.

Collective Decision

However, she told the BBC she accepted "collective responsibility" for the ruling, citing concern about necessitating a separate election in Greater Manchester.

Powell also emphasized that her party needed to draw inspiration from the reasons for Burnham's widespread popularity in the region. She said people "see in him someone who is on their side, someone who is implementing those core principles 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.

Future Speculation

Andy Burnham is reportedly considering another attempt at returning to parliament. A source close to him said, "With all the chaos and turmoil, who knows what might happen. It would be foolish to say he would never."

So far, Burnham himself has yet to comment on the Gorton and Denton outcome. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has pledged to continue despite labelling the poll result "disheartening."

Internal Reactions

Angela Rayner, a key figure on Labour's left, called the byelection result "a stark warning" for the party.

Meanwhile, the Home Secretary is expected to warn against the party moving to the left in response to the defeat. This comes as she introduces new laws on stricter border controls next week.

An insider was quoted as saying, "The Labour government should not learn the wrong lessons from its recent byelection loss. The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is just plain wrong."