Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham announced his intention to stand for parliament on Thursday afternoon as he sets his eyes on Number 10. (Alamy)
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Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has announced his intention to stand as an MP in Makerfield in order to return to Parliament and potentially pave a path to No 10, as calls by Labour MPs for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step down grow.
In a statement on X, Burnham announced he will attempt to stand in the seat after the Labour MP in the constituency, Josh Simons, said he would step down to pave the way for Burnham to run as an MP.
“I can confirm that I will be requesting the permission of the NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election,” said Burnham.
“I grew up in this area and have lived here for 25 years. I care deeply about it and its people. I know they have been let down by national politics.”
Burnham also said he wanted people to “come back together as a Labour movement”, and called for giving the prime minister and the government “space and stability” while the by-election takes place.
“Millions are struggling and they need the Labour government to succeed. It has already made changes to make life better for them in its first two years,” he said.
“After this week, we owe it to people to come back together as a Labour movement, giving the prime minister and the government the space and stability they need as the by-election takes place.”
The Manchester mayor also thanked Simons for stepping down, and said he recognised “the difficult decision taken by Josh Simons and the sacrifice he and his family are making.”
“I have worked closely with him as Mayor on issues like flooding and illegal waste dumping and have seen first-hand how effective he has been,” said Burnham.
“He has put the communities of Makerfield first, made a real difference for them and should take great pride in that.”
Burnham also said he would “not take a single vote for granted” and would “work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency”.
The next hurdle for Burnham, aside from winning the by-election, is getting the backing of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – which blocked his recent bid to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
The NEC’s argument for blocking Burnham in Gorton and Denton officially was not wanting an unnecessary by-election in Manchester for the mayoralty, which Burnham currently holds.
However, it was also widely seen as a bid by the prime minister to keep Labour’s most popular politician and possible contender for No 10 out of Parliament in the event of a leadership race.
Burnham’s announcement came after a dramatic day in Westminster, which saw Health Secretary Wes Streeting resign, saying the party currently has a “vacuum” instead of “vision”, and “drift” instead of “direction” – and that Labour’s heavy local election losses last week were “unprecedented”.
There had been mounting speculation since the local election losses on Thursday that Streeting would launch a direct challenge against the prime minister; however, he stopped short of doing so in his resignation letter.
While Streeting criticised Starmer’s leadership – stating “too often” other people had ended up “falling on their swords” for the prime minister, and suggesting he did not listen to backbenchers and had a “heavy-handed approach to dissenting voices” – he stopped short of a direct challenge.
Instead, Streeting said he was supportive of a process to replace Starmer that was “broad” – indicating a desire to include Burnham in the process, with speculation abounding that Streeting does not have the necessary 81 MPs backing him to mount a formal challenge.
“It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates,” said Streeting. “I support that approach and I hope that you will facilitate this.”
Streeting’s calls for Starmer to step down join almost 100 Labour MPs backing the PM’s departure, with senior Labour MP Jess Phillips resigning as a minister on Wednesday, joining a small but growing number of government ministers calling for Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky News on Thursday afternoon that the Cabinet was behind Starmer, and that now was the opportunity to “draw a line under all of this”.
“The prime minister has my full support, and I’m really sorry to see Wes go,” said Phillipson.
“He has been a brilliant health secretary. He’s done a fantastic job, and we saw that today with the NHS waiting list numbers that are really encouraging and what people want to see. But I fundamentally disagree with the position he’s taken.”
