Andy Burnham would have won the Gorton and Denton byelection, Labour’s deputy leader said as she called for the party to make more use of the Greater Manchester mayor.
Labour fell to third in the previously rock-solid seat on Thursday, with the Greens winning a fifth seat in parliament and Reform UK coming second.
The result has prompted renewed questioning of the party’s decision to block Burnham from contesting the seat.
Speaking to the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, said Burnham “probably would have” held the seat.
She said: “I think certainly the Greens wouldn’t have gone after the seat in the same way that they did.”
Powell was the only member of Labour’s ruling national executive committee to vote in favour of allowing Burnham to stand in Gorton and Denton, with eight others including Keir Starmer voting against.
But she told the BBC she accepted “collective responsibility” for the decision, citing concern about a mayoral byelection in Greater Manchester.
Powell also said her party needed to draw inspiration from the reasons for Burnham’s popularity in Greater Manchester, saying people “see in him someone who is on their side, someone who is delivering those Labour values and those Labour policies”.
She added: “We have to draw on that, make use of Andy Burnham, but also draw on that and reflect on how we could do that better nationally and better as a Government.
“And I know from talking to Keir many, many times over recent weeks, before this byelection and since, that that is something he is very focused on doing.”
Burnham himself is yet to comment on the result in Gorton and Denton, while Starmer has vowed to fight on despite the “disappointing” outcome of the poll.
Meanwhile, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is expected to warn against moving to the left in response to the byelection as she introduces legislation for tougher immigration measures next week.
A source close to the home secretary told the Times: “The Labour government should not learn the wrong lessons from its recent byelection loss.
“The idea that we are losing Muslim voters over immigration is just plain wrong.”
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