Andy Burnham Would 'Probably' Have Won the Recent Byelection, Says Labour Number Two

Labour's deputy leader has indicated that Andy Burnham would have won the Gorton and Denton byelection, while she called for her party to leverage the popular Greater Manchester mayor.

A Surprise Victory for the Greens

Overturning a substantial 13,000-vote Labour majority from the last general election, a local Green councillor, a local plumber, became the party's fifth MP on Friday. This happened in an area that had elected 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 Candidate Decision

The unexpected outcome has prompted fresh debate of the party's controversial decision to prevent Andy Burnham from standing in the seat last month.

In an interview with the BBC, Labour's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, remarked, "He likely could have held the seat. I think definitely the Greens wouldn't have gone after the seat in the manner that they did."

Powell was the only member of Labour's ruling national executive committee to vote in favour of allowing Burnham to stand, with the majority, including leader Keir Starmer, voting against.

Collective Decision

However, she told the BBC she understood "collective responsibility" for the ruling, pointing to worries over necessitating a mayoral byelection 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 "view him as someone who is fighting for them, 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 do that better nationally," she continued.

Future Speculation

Andy Burnham is understood not to have ruled out another attempt at returning to parliament. One ally commented, "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 byelection result. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has pledged to continue despite calling the poll result "disheartening."

Internal Reactions

Angela Rayner, a key figure on Labour's left, called the byelection result "a wake-up call" for the party.

Meanwhile, the Home Secretary is expected to caution about the party shifting leftward in response to the defeat. This comes as she introduces legislation for tougher immigration measures next week.

A source close to the Home Secretary was reported stating, "The Labour government should not learn the wrong lessons from its electoral setback. The idea that we are alienating support over immigration is just plain wrong."