Labour MP opens door to handing Burnham his safe seat

Peter Dowd refuses to deny reports that he would step aside for Greater Manchester mayor, seen as a front-runner to replace PM Daily Telegraph 27/04/26 A veteran Labour MP has opened the door to giving up his safe seat to help Andy Burnham return to Parliament.

Peter Dowd, who has represented Bootle, on Merseyside, since 2015, refused to deny reports that he was prepared to stand down for the Mayor of Greater Manchester. Mr Burnham’s previous attempt to return to Westminster by standing in Gorton and Denton by-election was blocked by Sir Keir Starmer and his allies on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee. Sir Keir is widely expected to face a challenge in the aftermath of next week’s local elections as a backlash continues to grow over his handling of the Mandelson vetting scandal. Mr Burnham is seen as a front-runner to replace Sir Keir but is ineligible for any Labour leadership contest because he is not an MP. Reports surfaced at the weekend that Mr Dowd was one of three MPs under pressure to give up their seats to allow Mr Burnham back to Westminster before any future contest. Charlotte Nichols, the Warrington North MP, and Marie Rimmer, the MP for St Helens South and Whiston, said they had not been asked by Mr Burnham’s team to step aside. However, when asked directly by The Telegraph whether he was prepared to give up his seat for the mayor, Mr Dowd said: “I’d rather not comment.” Mr Dowd is on the Labour Left and served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury from 2017 until 2020. Last month, Mr Burnham was accused of trying to persuade Ms Rimmer to give up her Merseyside seat in return for elevation to the House of Lords. He dismissed the claim as a “made-up” story. Mr Dowd’s Bootle seat was one of the safest Labour seats at the 2024 general election, with Sir Keir’s party winning almost 69 per cent of the vote. Reform UK came a distant second on 12 per cent, with the Green Party on 10 per cent. Although both have surged in the polls in the past two years, Labour is still forecast to win the seat at the next general election. To stand for Parliament, Mr Burnham would have to give up his mayoralty, which he has held since 2017. This would trigger a separate mayoral election that Labour chiefs fear could hand control of one of Britain’s biggest cities to Reform or the Greens. Mr Burnham’s candidacy would once again be subject to an NEC vote – meaning that even if Mr Dowd stood down, Mr Burnham would not necessarily contest the fight to replace him. Allies of Mr Burnham said over the weekend that Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, should strike a leadership pact in which she would succeed him in Downing Street. Sources close to the pair declined to comment on claims that they had reached an agreement at a secret summit held at Ms Rayner’s house last week. The arrangement would echo the New Labour “Granita pact” between Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, in which Mr Brown agreed to support Sir Tony in exchange for becoming his chancellor and eventual successor. In an extraordinary interview with The Telegraph last September, Mr Burnham revealed that MPs were privately urging him to challenge Sir Keir for the Labour leadership. He went on to set out a broad manifesto of policies he claimed would “turn the country around”, including higher council tax on expensive homes in London and the South East. He also called for £40bn of borrowing to build council houses and income tax cuts for lower earners, while separately claiming that the Government could not be “in hock” to the bond markets. During Sir Keir’s first two years in office, Mr Burnham has broken ranks on various major policy issues including the two-child benefit cap, cuts to the welfare bill and the scope of the Hillsborough Law. Most recently, he backed Ms Rayner’s attack on Sir Keir over his proposed migration crackdown after she told soft-Left activists that the proposals were “un-British”, saying he was “concerned” about proposals to make refugee status temporary and review it every 30 months. A spokesman for Mr Burnham was contacted for comment.