Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham has come up with a new plan to enter Parliament and succeed Sir Keir Starmer following May’s local elections, according to MPs supporting the Manchester Mayor’s ambitions.
Mr Burnham was prevented from running as the Labour candidate in this month’s crunch Gorton and Denton by-election after the party’s ruling NEC blocked his bid under orders from the Prime Minister.
But allies of Mr Burnham argue that the mood in the party has deteriorated since then to such a degree a second attempt by him would be successful.
With that in mind, he is understood to be holding discussions with a sitting Labour MP in Liverpool.
Mr Burnham’s close ally, Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell, who sits on the NEC, is ‘having conversations to that effect’, a supporter said.
Earlier this week, Mr Burnham joined forces with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner to criticise Sir Keir’s tax policies for putting pubs and other hospitality businesses under pressure.
Ms Rayner is also regarded as a frontrunner to succeed Sir Keir.
However, Mr Burnham’s MP supporters believe that she just ‘wants to be part of the conversation’, and would team up with Mr Burnham as his deputy if he ran.
Andy Burnham was prevented from running as the Labour candidate in this month’s crunch Gorton and Denton by-election after the party’s ruling NEC blocked his bid under orders from the Prime Minister
Earlier this week, Mr Burnham joined forces with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner to criticise Sir Keir’s (pictured) tax policies for putting pubs and other hospitality businesses under pressure
She told a night-time economy conference in Liverpool: ‘I talked about the challenges of business rates, the challenges of VAT, the challenges, yes, of the minimum wage going up, and the living wage and the cost of energy.
‘We’ve got to start looking at the intersectionality of all these challenges and start relieving some of them. Too often, policy is done to this sector, not with it.’
Mr Burnham then echoed her words at the same conference, saying: ‘We need a planning and tax regime that recognises that value added to the UK economy.
‘I know pubs have got their business rates exemption but it should be broader than that.’
Mr Burnham, like Ms Rayner and Ed Miliband, would take the party to the Left – in line with the views of party members, rather than voters.
A poll of the Labour Party’s members showed that 89 per cent of them think taxes and spending should go up.
This is a view that is shared by only one in five of the general public.
Only Health Secretary Wes Streeting represents what constitutes the Right of the party – which is why he is likely to struggle in any contest.