Labour's Burnham Loss: Powell Questions Starmer's Leadership

0:00Welcome to U.K. News Today. Two minutes of U.K. News that matter brought to you by NordVPN. Fast, reliable online privacy. Links in the episode description. Labor's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has admitted that greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham likely would have won the recent Gordon and Denton. By election for the party, she said he probably would have held the safe seat, and the Green Party might not have challenged it so aggressively if he had run. Instead, Labor finished a distant third, crushed by both the Greens and Reform U.K. Powell was the lone voice on Labor's National Executive Committee pushing to let Burnham stand. Eight others, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, voted to block him. She's now the first senior minister to openly question that call, while still taking collective responsibility for the outcome. The by-election loss has exposed risks in the party, with Starmer's leadership under fire amid rising threats from the Greens and Reform U.K. Voices calling for him to step aside are getting louder, even as he vows to keep fighting despite the disappointing result.

1:06Powell's stress that Burnham's popularity in Greater Manchester comes from people seeing him as someone delivering real labor values. She urged the party and government to learn from that and harness his appeal nationally. Starmer has discussed these issues with Powell in recent weeks, showing he's focused on improving. Meanwhile, Burnham himself has stayed quiet on the by-election fallout.