'Time for a change' Could challenger quell rising discontent with Labour?

Could challenger

- Josh Halliday North of Engin editor

When leaked WhatsApp messages sent by former minister Andrew Gwynne were published last year, Stuart Beard was astonished at the scenes outside his office in Denton town square.

“There must have been about 60 pensioners with placards,” he said, referring to local anger over Gwynne’s derogatory texts, which included one saying he hoped an elderly woman who didn’t vote Labour “croaked it” before the next election.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Beard. “It was like a riot - it was quite funny in a way.”

The circus will return to this diverse Manchester constituency after Gwynne’s resignation triggered a potentially seismic byelection that could pave the way for Andy Burnham’s much-hyped return to Westminster.

The Greater Manchester mayor has not yet declared whether he intends to run for the Gorton and Denton seat, regardless of all the hurdles that Starmer allies will throw in his way. But other parties are savouring a chance to give Labour a bloody nose.

“Without Burnham on the ballot, my standing expectation would be that Labour would lose - but I wouldn’t be at all sure who they would lose to,” said Prof Robert Ford, of the University of Manchester.

Its 119,000 constituents span the left-leaning young professionals of Levenshulme, the white working class Reform-leaning voters of Denton, and a significant Muslim population - 28% of the seat - around Rusholme and Gorton.

Ford believe the race could be a threeor even four-way split between Labour, Reform UK, a pro-Gaza candidate and the Green party.

“If [Burnham] isn’t the candidate then it’s amuch more interesting race than if he is,” he said.