Sir Keir Starmer has been warned to “put personalities aside” and ask why the Government is “contemplating losing one of our safest parliamentary seats in the country to Reform”.

Speaking to GB News, Labour MP Jonathan Hinder urged the Prime Minister to rethink the decision to block Andy Burnham from standing in the upcoming Gorton & Denton by-election.

Following the decision to block the Manchester Mayor, around 50 Labour MPs have signed a letter objecting to the decision to block Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from standing in the upcoming Gorton & Denton by-election.

The letter, which has been sent to Sir Keir Starmer, warns the decision is a “real gift” to Reform UK.

Echoing those claims, Mr Hinder told GB News: “I don’t want to get bogged down in the personalities, but what I would say to my colleagues is let’s take a step back and think about why we are contemplating losing one of our safest parliamentary seats in the country in a by-election to Reform.

“Why are we openly discussing the possibility that Reform could win the Greater Manchester mayoral election?”

Criticising Reform’s lack of “agenda” in comparison to the Government, he added: “If we were to have one of those, put the personalities aside, why is it that we think we are so unpopular that people would vote for a party which doesn’t really have a proper economic agenda?

“Reform is riding a wave of resentment against the two main parties, particularly on immigration.”

Suggesting that the Government could be “doing more” to protect Britain’s borders, Mr Hinder admitted: “I’ve spoken about it before, but we’re 18 months in, and yes, there’s some good news on legal migration, but the people have the right to expect their Government to control their borders.

“As long as we don’t do that, people will keep reaching for other solutions.”

Issuing a stark election warning to Sir Keir ahead of the by-election, the Labour MP told GB News: “Let’s not focus so much on the personalities.

“Let’s think about why we’re losing some of our safest seats, or potentially losing some of our safest seats to what is essentially a Thatcherite version 2.0.”

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Seventeen members of the local Gorton & Denton Labour Party have penned a letter to the Prime Minister, accusing him of “playing with their future” and handing the once-safe seat to Reform UK.

In the letter, the group of Labour activists wrote: “As members of the Gorton and Denton Labour Party we’ve watched as our future has been played by party figures in Westminster.

“We didn’t want any of this to happen, but now it has, all we want is a full voice and a say in who our candidate should be. Let the best come forward to represent our wonderful constituency and brilliant people.

“Let the brightest and most convincing campaigner be selected in what will be a nation defining by-election battle between Labour and Reform.”

The letter continued: “Let Gorton and Denton not be the first domino in Greater Manchester to fall to Reform and instead the platform for the fight back against national populism.

“As post holders and activists from across our CLP we demand simply that we decide who our candidate should be.

“In that way our campaigners will come out and work tirelessly for their candidate in their campaign to win and vanquish Reform.

“This means the NEC should reverse the decision to block Andy Burnham and allow him and anyone else to stand before us and make their case to represent our seat at this unprecedented political moment.”