Local Labour activists demand Starmer reverses Burnham decision

As highlighted by Clive Lewis, local Labour members in Gorton & Denton are set to demand that the party allows Andy Burnham to stand:

Members of a party that calls itself democratic are asking for something very simple: democracy.

When your main political opponent is authoritarian, that isn’t optional. It’s foundational.

Labour can win this by-election, but only if it lives by the values it claims to defend. https://t.co/pSWEYF5lwg

— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) January 27, 2026

Democracy

The letter in full reads:

As members of the Gorton and Denton Labour Party we’ve watched as our future has been played by party figures in Westminster.

We didn’t want any of this to happen, but now it has, all we want is a full voice and a say in who our candidate should be.

Let the best come forward to represent our wonderful constituency and brilliant people. Let the brightest and most convincing campaigner be selected in what will be a nation defining by-election battle between Labour and Reform. Let Gorton and Denton not be the first domino in Greater Manchester to fall to Reform and instead the platform for the fight back against national populism.

As post holders and activists from across our CLP we demand simply that we decide who our candidate should be. In that way our campaigners will come out and work tirelessly for their candidate in their campaign to win and vanquish Reform. This means the NEC should reverse the decision to block Andy Burnham and allow him and anyone else to stand before us and make their case to represent our seat at this unprecedented political moment.

As we reported, Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) issued the following excuse for not letting Burnham stand:

The NEC believes that causing an unnecessary election for the position of Greater Manchester Mayor would have a substantial and disproportionate impact on party campaign resources ahead of the local elections and elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd in May. Although the Party would be confident of retaining the mayoralty, the NEC could not put Labour’s control of Greater Manchester at any risk.

Andy Burnham is doing a great job as Mayor of Greater Manchester. We believe it is in the best interests of the party to avoid an unnecessary Mayoral election which would use substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money and resources that are better spent tackling the cost of living crisis. We look forward to fighting and winning the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton and the positive campaign ahead which will be firmly focussed on tackling the cost of living and bringing investment to the local area.

Mainstream

Just like Burnham himself, Clive Lewis is a member of the Labour pressure group Mainstream:

Mainstream is serious about winning a democratic socialist future

We stand for the redistribution of power and wealth, the defence of human rights dignity at home and abroad, the creation of a new political economy & much more.

Find out more here:https://t.co/l33SZAHuK6

— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) September 8, 2025

It’s widely believed that Burnham wants to return to parliament to challenge Keir Starmer to be the Labour leader. Lewis has previously seemed to support this idea, referring to Burnham’s politics of ‘Manchesterism’ as follows:

In this hollowing-out of govt, we face the danger of a politics so cowed by vested interests that it cannot stand up to them. And when that happens, it is the authoritarian right who reap the rewards.

People aren’t fooled. They can feel the country is being run for “them” not “us.” And unless Labour changes course – embracing pluralism, democracy and genuine debate – it will deliver power straight into Farage and Trump’s waiting hands.

Perhaps we’re in need of a bit of ‘Manchesterism’ – a different way of doing govt and one not afraid of giving control of public services to the very people that use and run them; Us!

Featured image via pexels