Andy Burnham's bid to return as MP blocked by Labour's ruling body

Andy Burnham has been blocked from standing as a candidate for an upcoming parliamentary by-election in Gorton and Denton by Labour's ruling body.

As a directly elected mayor, Burnham had to get approval from Labour's national executive committee (NEC), after he applied to be a candidate on Saturday.

But Labour said the party had decided to deny Burnham permission to stand 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".

But Burnham, a former minister, is widely seen as a potential leadership challenger to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should he return to Westminster.

The seat in Greater Manchester is vacant after former Labour minister Andrew Gwynne stood down on Friday as an MP on health grounds.

The move to block Burnham has infuriated Labour MPs and is likely to anger some ministers who said local party members should have had the option of choosing the Greater Manchester mayor as the candidate.

It is a big political gamble by allies of the prime minister and risks inflaming tensions within the party, which is consistently trailing Reform UK in national opinion polls.

One senior Labour source who had been supportive of Burnham's candidacy said: "They're gambling the PM's whole premiership on winning a very hard by-election without their best candidate. It is madness."

The decision was made by 10 members of the NEC, including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, party chair Ellie Reeves and the prime minister himself on Sunday morning.

NEC sources told the BBC the vote was 8-1 in favour of blocking Burnham's candidacy.

The prime minister was among those who voted to block Burnham from standing.

Mahmood abstained as the chair, while Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell voted to allow him to stand.

Labour sources have told the BBC that in the meeting, lots of concerns were raised about the costs of an election to replace Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor and the "prospect of a divisive campaign".

Sir Keir's allies say Burnham is doing "a very good job" as mayor of Greater Manchester, arguing an election to replace him "would cost the party hundreds of thousands of pounds" and "cost the country millions of pounds during a cost-of-living crisis".

The prime minister's supporters were worried Reform UK "would outspend us ten to one" during the by-election campaign.

The argument those who blocked Burnham intend to make publicly is that during a period of geopolitics dominating the headlines and deep concerns about the cost of living at home, there would be no appetite in the country for a "return to political psychodramas of the Tory years".

There was "overwhelming support" in the meeting "for upholding clear Labour Party rules preventing mayors and PCCs standing in by-elections", a source said.

Earlier, Mahmood told the BBC allowing elected mayors to run as candidates in parliamentary by-elections had "organisational implications" for the party.

A mayoral election in Greater Manchester could also be costly for the taxpayer, with the last one costing about £4.7m.

In a statement, the Labour Party said: "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."

Labour MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said told the BBC he was "absolutely furious" about the decision and suggested the prime minister did not "understand the depth of anger there will be amongst our members about this".

"I think it shows weakness and cowardice," McDonnell said, describing the move as "factionalism gone wild".

He said he had messaged Sir Keir to tell him "if he thinks this strengthens his position, I think it will used to hasten his demise if he's not careful".

He said it was an "insult to people's intelligence" to claim the decision had been made because of the difficulty and expense of finding a new mayor of Greater Manchester.

But other Labour MPs welcomed the decision, with John Slinger, who represents the Rugby constituency, saying the "quick and clear decision" meant the party could "move on from the damaging, introspection and psychodrama of the last week".

Burnham, who was previously MP for Leigh, has been touted as a possible Labour leadership contender but can only mount a challenge if he is an MP in the House of Commons.

The former cabinet minister, who has twice stood for the Labour leadership without success, has previously not denied he could challenge Sir Keir.

But in his letter to the NEC on Saturday, Burnham insisted he would be in Parliament "to support the work of the government, not undermine it".

"I have passed this assurance on to the prime minister."

The area of Gorton and Denton has traditionally voted Labour and the party won the seat in 2024 with a majority of 13,000.

Since then, the party's popularity has declined and Labour could face challenges from Reform UK and the Green Party, who came second and third there at the general election.