Politics Home Article | Andy Burnham To Campaign In London Ahead Of Local Elections

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The Mayor of Greater Manchester, widely seen as a leading candidate to succeed Keir Starmer as leader, is planning to knock on doors in Islington in north London this week, according to literature seen by PoliticsHome, and is expected to visit several more boroughs between now and 7 May.

The capital is one of Labour’s biggest headaches heading into those elections next month, with the party under pressure from the Greens to its left and Reform UK to its right.

A YouGov poll published on Wednesday forecast Labour to win 15 borough councils, down six from the last time they held elections in 2022. The biggest beneficiary of Labour’s fall in support is expected to be the Greens, with YouGov projecting Zack Polanski’s party to win in Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham and Waltham Forest. 

In Islington, where Burnham is due to campaign in the coming days, the Greens are expected to eat into Labour’s vote share and finish second (37 to 31 per cent), according to YouGov.

The former cabinet minister is also planning to visit the borough of Lewisham in south London, PoliticsHome understands, where YouGov today gave the Greens a narrow two per cent lead over Labour (35 to 33 per cent). Bar a brief interlude in 2006 when it was under no overcall control, Labour has controlled Lewisham for nearly 60 years.

Burnham wanted to be Labour’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year but was blocked by the Prime Minister and other senior Labour officials.

Green candidate Hannah Spencer won the contest in Greater Manchester with 40 per cent of the vote, pushing Labour into third place. Many Labour figures believe the party would have kept hold of the seat had Burnham been the candidate.

The House magazine reported earlier this month that the Burnham operation had started reaching out to Labour MPs, senior party officials and trade unions about a second attempt to return to the House of Commons.

Karl Turner, the Yorkshire MP who recently had the Labour whip removed, predicted on last week’s episode of PoliticsHome podcast The Rundown that Burnham would be Labour leader and prime minister “in the not too distant future”.

The consensus within Labour is that Burnham would be in competition with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner to secure the support of the left and soft left of the party in any future leadership contest.

Starmer’s position is coming under renewed pressure over further revelations about his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.

Olly Robbins, who was sacked by the Prime Minister as the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office last week over his role in the Mandelson affair, told MPs on Tuesday that No 10 showed a “dismissive attitude” to Labour peer’s security vetting.

Starmer has repeatedly apologised for the original decision to appoint Mandelson, but insists that due process was properly followed throughout the process.

Told to resign by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday, Starmer said: “I was elected by the British people because they [the Tories] let the country down for 14 long years.

“Whatever she says, whatever noise they make, nothing is to distract me from delivering for our country.”