Keir Starmer has accused the Reform UK candidate in the Greater Manchester byelection of pursuing the politics of “toxic division” after Matthew Goodwin refused to disown his claim that UK-born people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British.
The prime minister, speaking on his way to China, said the contest in Gorton and Denton would be a “straight fight between Labour and Reform”, and that voters wanting to stop Nigel Farage’s party should rally behind Labour. He added: “You can see from their candidate what politics they’re going to bring to that constituency: the politics of division, of toxic division, of tearing people apart.”
Senior Labour figures have acknowledged that the party must present itself more rapidly as the “stop Reform” vote, after it was too late to benefit from tactical voting in the recent Caerphilly byelection, which was won by Plaid Cymru.
The Greens, who finished third in Gorton and Denton at the general election, are expected to mount a strong campaign, with party officials arguing they have a realistic chance of victory after Andy Burnham was barred from applying to be the Labour candidate. Starmer denied that Burnham was warned in advance, saying: “No, he wasn’t.”
Starmer confirmed he spoke to Burnham on Monday following an acrimonious weekend in which the mayor’s potential candidacy was blocked over the cost of a subsequent mayoral byelection. He praised Burnham as doing a “first-class job” in Manchester, but said any return to parliament was “a matter for Andy”.
