- Sat Jan 24, 2026 6:21 pm
#104503
The NEC could, and in my view should, now legitimately reject Burnham’s request to be permitted to bid for selection in the Gorton & Denton parliamentary by-election.
The party rule that says that any incumbent mayor seeking to resign their position in order to try to stand for election to another representative body must obtain permission from the party’s governing body in order to do so has sound reasons for its existence.
The NEC’s role here is to consider the effects of the incumbent Greater Manchester mayor abandoning his post two years early not only on the (possibly dubious) prospects, in the present political climate, of Labour being able to retain the Manchester mayoralty at the by-election that would have to follow, but also the financial impact of having to fight what could legtimately be viewed as a completely unnecessary by-election on the party.
The NEC will no doubt also consider the viability and prospects of success in the Gorton & Denton by-election with Burnham as the candidate. Again, the corollary of the positive advantages of having Burnham as the candidate in the parliamentary by-election must logically be the negative aspects of the absence of Burnham as a candidate to defend his mayoralty at the by-election for the mayoralty.
This an important, and serious, decision for Labour’s governing body. For all the feverish talk of “blocking” Burnham, the wailing about a “denial of democracy”, or the poor “optics” that denying Burnham’s bid would allegedly entail, that is merely so much nonsense.
I don’t doubt that NEC members will have an eye on the politics of the situation, but I sincerely hope that they will mind their work, and come to the right decision, which is that Burnham cannot simply resign an important post like Mancester mayor on a whim. - whether his intention is to enable him to challenge the Prime Minister or not .
The party rule that says that any incumbent mayor seeking to resign their position in order to try to stand for election to another representative body must obtain permission from the party’s governing body in order to do so has sound reasons for its existence.
The NEC’s role here is to consider the effects of the incumbent Greater Manchester mayor abandoning his post two years early not only on the (possibly dubious) prospects, in the present political climate, of Labour being able to retain the Manchester mayoralty at the by-election that would have to follow, but also the financial impact of having to fight what could legtimately be viewed as a completely unnecessary by-election on the party.
The NEC will no doubt also consider the viability and prospects of success in the Gorton & Denton by-election with Burnham as the candidate. Again, the corollary of the positive advantages of having Burnham as the candidate in the parliamentary by-election must logically be the negative aspects of the absence of Burnham as a candidate to defend his mayoralty at the by-election for the mayoralty.
This an important, and serious, decision for Labour’s governing body. For all the feverish talk of “blocking” Burnham, the wailing about a “denial of democracy”, or the poor “optics” that denying Burnham’s bid would allegedly entail, that is merely so much nonsense.
I don’t doubt that NEC members will have an eye on the politics of the situation, but I sincerely hope that they will mind their work, and come to the right decision, which is that Burnham cannot simply resign an important post like Mancester mayor on a whim. - whether his intention is to enable him to challenge the Prime Minister or not .
Last edited by Abernathy on Sat Jan 24, 2026 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"The opportunity to serve our country: that is all we ask.” John Smith, May 11, 1994.
- By davidjay