Labour is the only party that can beat Reform UK in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Sir Keir Starmer has insisted.
Since the resignation of former MP Andrew Gwynne last week, speculation has mounted that Reform could win the seat Labour retained with 51% of the vote in 2024.
The Greens, meanwhile, have sought to portray themselves as the main option for voters wanting to stop Reform as leader Zack Polanski seeks to supplant Labour.
But ahead of his visit to Beijing, Sir Keir told reporters that Labour remained the best way to stop Nigel Farage’s party gaining another MP.
He said: “There’s only one party that can stop Reform and that’s the Labour Party.
“And we can already see what the by-election’s going to be about, which is Labour values – which are about delivering, focusing on the cost of living, with a strong record in that constituency of what we’ve already done – versus Reform.”
Sir Keir also hit out at Reform’s candidate, Matthew Goodwin, saying he showed the party would bring a politics of “toxic division” to the contest.
He said: “That’s not what that constituency is about, that’s not what Manchester is about. So this is a straight fight between Labour and Reform.”
Meanwhile, Sir Keir denied claims that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham had been told he would be barred from standing for the seat if he applied, something Mr Burnham has also denied.
He said he had spoken to Mr Burnham himself on both Monday and Tuesday after Labour’s National Executive Committee denied him permission to contest the by-election.
And he praised Mr Burnham as an “excellent” mayor leading one of the UK’s “flagship devolution stories”.
He added that he thought the mayor “would say that working with this government has been so much better than working with previous governments”, pointing to cooperation on the Manchester synagogue attack and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
But asked whether he would welcome Mr Burnham’s return to Westminster once his mayoral term ended, Sir Keir said: “That’s a matter for Andy.
“He did a really good job in Parliament.
“My first job was working for Andy when I came in in 2015. I wanted to work for him, he wanted me to work for him, and we got through some really tricky legislation together and worked really well together, I supported his leadership campaign.”
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