Top News

Nigel Farage's allies have put Andy Burnham on notice that Reform UK will mount an all-out fight to block the Greater Manchester Mayor from returning to Parliament should he pursue a Labour leadership bid.

Burnham left Westminster in 2017 after his first two leadership bids and is now considering a return as the vacancy at the top of Labour becomes increasingly real, with over 80 MPs having publicly demanded Sir Keir's resignation.

His route back is complicated by recent history - the NEC refused to allow him on the ballot in February's Gorton and Denton by-election, a seat the Greens went on to capture with Reform UK well back in second.

Any attempt to return would require a willing Labour colleague to stand aside and a second NEC approval, neither of which is guaranteed, before he even faces the electorate in a climate deeply hostile to the governing party.

Reform UK sources were unambiguous about their intentions. "We would fight very hard indeed," one insider told GB News.

A second Reform veteran was more pointed: "Given Labour were demolished across the former Red Wall, there are no 'safe' Labour seats left.

Andy Burnham and Labour ministers show their contempt for the electorate by thinking they can swap out one of their MPs and crown a new Prime Minister. Voters will teach them a brutal lesson."

A third added: "We won every seat in Angela Rayner's patch last week. Ask her if there are any safe Labour seats."

The Greens are also said to be readying a major by-election push if Burnham makes his move - a further complication given the party's strong showing in recent contests.

Burnham held the Wigan seat from 2001 until his move to Greater Manchester in 2017.

Any by-election push would come against the backdrop of Labour's worst local election results in modern times - 1,498 councillors lost, Reform UK up 1,452 wards and the Greens adding 441 seats.