Labour backbencher Ian Lavery has warned that the Labour Party “risks dying” as Sir Keir Starmer is the most “unpopular Prime Minister in modern British history.”
This comes as the Labour ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) held a meeting and blocked Any Burnham’s Commons comeback by eight votes to one, on Sunday.
This has caused civil war within the Labour Party and has provoked anger and some senior officials are calling for members to have their say on Burnham’s comeback.
John McDonnell warned that blocking Burnham from standing in Parliament will cause “damage” to Sir Keir Starmer and Labour.
Labour activists are demanding that Starmer reverses the ban on Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Some 17 members of Gorton and Denton’s local Labour party wrote to Starmer saying they feel their “future has been played by party figures in Westminster” warning that Reform UK could win the seat.
The letter says: “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.”
They added, “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.”
Lavery wrote on social media, “The claim that blocking the Mayor of Greater Manchester from seeking selection in a parliamentary by‑election will prevent a “Westminster psychodrama” is, frankly, discombobulating.
Far from calming anything, it reveals a profound nervousness at the very top of the party.
The Labour left-wing activist added, “Preventing Andy Burnham from standing does not demonstrate strength or discipline; it signals weakness. It shows a leadership more concerned with shielding the most unpopular prime minister in modern British history than with even attempting to understand the scale of anger in the country.
He slammed the “endless U-turns,” warning Labour is on “political life support”.
He continued, “If something doesn’t change, and change quickly, the consequences will be existential.
A party born with Keir Hardie risks dying with Keir Starmer.
