Candidate selection in Burnham’s potential seat will be normal process – Kinnock

Andy Burnham’s potential return to Parliament will be handled like any other selection process, a minister said amid speculation Sir Keir Starmer’s allies will seek to scupper the Greater Manchester mayor’s Westminster ambitions.

Mr Burnham, long viewed as a potential rival to the Prime Minister for the Labour leadership, faces a decision on whether to attempt to return to Westminster after a Greater Manchester MP announced he would quit the Commons.

Andrew Gwynne said on Thursday he would stand down as MP for Gorton and Denton citing “significant ill health” and advice from his doctor not to return to work.

His decision means a by-election in the constituency, which Labour won comfortably in 2024.

But Mr Burnham faces several hurdles if he is to use this moment to try to return to Westminster.

His candidacy will have to be approved by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), which has been seen as under the control of Sir Keir’s supporters.

Health minister Stephen Kinnock insisted the process would be the same as any other candidate selection.

He told BBC Breakfast: “It will be like any other selection process and those rules and procedures will be set in due course.”

Mr Kinnock said Mr Burnham was “doing a great job in the role that he currently has”.

He told BBC Breakfast: “Andy Burnham is an incredibly talented and effective leader as the mayor of Greater Manchester.”

Mr Burnham has yet to comment on whether he will apply to be Labour’s candidate in the upcoming by-election.

But before Mr Gwynne’s announcement, the mayor said he was “in the dark” about the MP’s plans, adding: “People shouldn’t rush to conclusions.”

Some Labour backbenchers have suggested they would welcome Mr Burnham’s return, with one telling the Press Association it would be “lovely” and things were “looking up” for the first time in 18 months.

The Prime Minister himself would not be drawn on Thursday on whether Mr Burnham should stand, saying the NEC would set out the process for choosing a candidate and adding that he was “doing an excellent job as mayor of Manchester”.

Reports suggest Sir Keir’s allies are already mobilising to block Mr Burnham’s candidacy, arguing it would destabilise the Government.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy called for party unity, regardless of Mr Burnham’s intention.

He told the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast: “I don’t know if Andy really wants to get back into Westminster politics.

“He may do, and there’s much merit to him. But I would caution those often around folk that start to destabilise the ship and say that we can have a new leader. No, we can’t. Because immediately you’d be forced to have an election, premature probably.”

On Thursday, a source close to the NEC said it was “hard to tell” whether the mayor would be approved as a candidate for the contest, with support among the party’s ruling body “not clear”.

A backbench MP told PA Labour would be “foolish” to block him from standing, adding the party would be “completely finished” if it did so.

Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said blocking Mr Burnham’s candidacy would be “a democratic outrage”, adding the union would “fiercely resist any attempts to stitch up the selection”.

If selected, Mr Burnham would then face a potentially tough by-election contest.

Although Mr Gwynne won his seat with 51% of the vote, Labour’s support nationally has crashed since the election and Reform UK has vowed to “throw everything” at the seat.

If elected, he would have to give up his mayoralty as in that role he is also a police and crime commissioner, and therefore legally barred from sitting as an MP.

A vacancy in the Greater Manchester role could present Nigel Farage’s party with another electoral target.