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The Labour government’s home secretary refused to rule out blocking Andy Burnham from standing as the party’s candidate in the forthcoming by-election in the North West.
Shabana Mahmood, who chairs the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), said there would “no doubt be a discussion” about an all-women shortlist – a move that would see the Manchester mayor blocked from standing.
The party sometimes has [an] all-women shortlist,” Mahmood told Sky News.
“Of course, you can’t by law have an all ethnic minority shortlist… But that’s not the decision for today.”
She added today the NEC “will be deciding one question – which is Andy, as a metro mayor at the moment, has sought permission to stand in the by-election.”
“Under our Labour Party rules, anybody who is a mayor or a police and crime commissioner, if they want to run for a different political office, such as member of parliament, they do have to seek permission from the national executive.”
Take Burnham’s pledge not to undermine Starmer at his word, says Mahmood
It comes after Burnham issued a letter to the NEC on Saturday regarding his intentions to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
“I have learnt in my nine years as mayor that Manchester won’t be able to be everything it should be without similar changes at a national level. This is why I feel the need to go back…” Burnham, who was an MP from 2001 to 2017, said.
He added his role in returning would be to use his “experience to help [the government[ to go further and faster.”
“I would be there to support the work of the government, not undermine it, and I have passed on this assurance to the Prime Minister,” he said.
Mahmood praised Burnham as a “fantastic mayor” on Sunday adding she “appreciated the letter”.
The Birmingham Ladywood MP said Burnham should be taken “at his words” that he is not seeking to sow disruption to Starmer’s government.
The political tension will add further pressure to bond markets, which modestly edged up on the speculation of an Andy Burnham return to government.
The mayor said the UK was “in a low growth doom loop” and “our shallow, adversarial political system has shown itself incapable of lifting us out of it and it only adds to the volatility, so we do find ourselves stuck in a rut and in hock to the bond markets”.
He also called for “business-friendly socialism” to be introduced in government while advocating for greater public ownership across various sectors including water and rail.
