Andy Burnham would ‘simply beat’ Keir Starmer in a head-to-head management contest
A YouGov poll about the Labour leadership came as the party announced Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham will stand in the crucial Makerfield by-election
The PM with Andy Burnham(Image: Ian Vogler / PA ROTA – B68 / Avalon)
Andy Burnham would easily beat Sir Keir Starmer in a head-to-head leadership contest, Labour members say. The YouGov poll came as Labour announced the Greater Manchester mayor will be the party’s candidate for the Makerfield by-election.
Mr Burnham would win 59% of membership backing against 37% who would back the under-pressure PM, according to the survey. The poll also showed Mr Burnham would beat Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, by 80% to 10% if the two men went up against each other.
Two thirds of respondents also said that they wanted a new Labour leader before the next election.
But the so-called ‘King of the North’ will need to win the crunch Makerfield by-election to return to parliament. Mr Burnham said he was “proud and humbled” after being selected as the party’s candidate in the north west seat.
He vowed to ensure the voices of people in Makerfield were “heard loud and clear”. Mr Burnham is understood to have been the only person shortlisted for selection by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, bypassing a vote by the local party.
The decision sets up a contest between Mr Burnham and Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, a local plumber who contested the seat for the party in 2024. Mr Burnham has put himself forward as the candidate to “change Labour”, using a campaign video to call for a “new path for Britain”.
Following his selection, he said: “These proud working-class communities represent the very best values of our country and they deserve so much better. It would be my honour to work for them every day, if elected as their MP, to achieve that.”
In his video, the mayor described the by-election in Makerfield as “the most consequential of our lives” and said he did not “take anything for granted”.
Setting out his political views, he said: “Manchesterism is the end of neoliberalism, the end of trickle-down economics that has left out places like Makerfield. Make no mistake, that means a new path for Britain.”
Mr Burnham is widely expected to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership if he returns to Parliament. But the Prime Minister has insisted he will not “walk away” from Downing Street.
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