Politics · 1 March 2026
Starmer blocked Burnham. Now his deputy says: Be like him.
David Woolfall via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Labour's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has advised Keir Starmer to adopt a style similar to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. This suggestion follows Labour's third-place result in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election. Powell stated that Burnham would likely have won the seat had he been permitted to be the candidate. Starmer had blocked Burnham from standing, with the party's committee citing the expense of a mayoral by-election.
Reported by Independent · How we write briefs