Andy Burnham Would 'Probably' Have Won the Recent Byelection, States Labour Deputy Leader

Labour's deputy leader has suggested that Andy Burnham could have triumphed in the recent Manchester byelection, as she urged her party to make more use of the popular Greater Manchester mayor.

A Surprise Victory for the Green Party

Overturning a substantial 13,000-vote Labour majority from the last general election, a local Green councillor, a community tradesperson, was elected as the party's fifth MP on Friday. This occurred 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 Candidate Decision

The surprise result has prompted fresh debate of the party's controversial decision to prevent Andy Burnham from contesting the seat last month.

In an interview with the BBC, Labour's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, stated, "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 top decision-making body to support allowing Burnham to stand, with eight others, including leader Keir Starmer, voting against.

Accepting Responsibility

However, she stated she accepted "collective responsibility" for the ruling, pointing to worries over necessitating a mayoral byelection in Greater Manchester.

Powell also emphasized that her party must learn from the sources of Burnham's strong support in the region. She said people "see in him someone who is on their side, someone who is delivering those Labour values and Labour policies."

"We have to utilise that insight, leverage Andy Burnham, but also learn from it and consider how we could do that better nationally," she continued.

Future Speculation

Andy Burnham is understood not to have ruled out having another go 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."

To date, Burnham himself has not publicly spoken on the byelection result. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on despite labelling the poll result "disheartening."

Internal Reactions

Angela Rayner, a prominent voice on Labour's left, described the byelection result "a wake-up call" for the party.

In contrast, the Home Secretary is set to warn against the party shifting leftward in response to the defeat. This comes as the government proposes new laws on tougher immigration measures next week.

An insider was reported stating, "The party should not misinterpret the message from its recent byelection loss. The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is simply incorrect."