The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham has revealed his intention to contest the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election.
In a statement released, he argued he wants to support the Labour government and not sabotage it, acknowledging the decision has been tough to make.
“I have passed this assurance on to the prime minister” he said “to support the work of the government, not undermine it”.
Burnham wrote in his letter that there was a “direct threat to everything Greater Manchester has always been about from a brand of politics which seeks to pit people against each other”.
“I see this by-election as the frontline of that fight for the Manchester Way and I feel I owe it to a city which has given me so much to lead it from the front, despite the risks involved.”
He said he left Westminster almost a decade ago because “it wasn’t working for people in our part of the world” and revealed he “tried to pioneer a different way of doing things”.
However, he added that he believed Manchester “won’t be able to be everything it should be without similar changes at a national level.
“This is why I feel the need to go back.”
Read also the related news on New Daily Prime: Burnham weighs by-election bid amid labour tensions
Following the step down of Andrew Gwynne on Friday as an MP due to health, the seat in Greater Manchester has been vacant.
If elected, Burnham could emerge as a potential leadership challenger to Sir Keir Starmer, but the BBC has been told that allies of the prime minister may attempt to block his candidacy.
Meanwhile, several Labour MPs have reacted angrily to suggestions that Andy Burnham could be blocked from standing in the by-election.
Burnham has formally applied to stand as Labour’s candidate in the forthcoming by-election, submitting his application to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) before the Saturday deadline.
He published his letter to the NEC on social media at 5pm, bringing to an end speculation over whether he intended to enter the contest.
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