Workers Party of Britain to choose from four candidates for by-election

The Workers Party of Britain has said it will choose its candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election from a list of four contenders.

Among the names are party leader George Galloway, and Shahbaz Sarwar, who represents the party as a councillor for the Longsight ward on Manchester City Council.

The by-election in the Greater Manchester constituency was triggered by the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, who stepped down last week for health reasons.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham had hoped to stand as Labour's candidate but was blocked at the weekend by his party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), a move that has angered some MPs.

At the general election in July 2024, Galloway's Workers Party of Britain got 10.3% of the vote and came fourth.

Gwynne secured 50.8% of the vote, enough for a majority of more than 13,000 ahead of Reform UK (14.1%). The Greens, on 13.2%, came third.

The Conservatives (7.9%) and Liberal Democrats (3.8%) were respectively fifth and sixth.

If Burnham had been successful in a by-election, it would have triggered a mayoral election to replace him in Greater Manchester.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Labour's resources should be "focused on the elections that we must have, not the elections that we don't have to have".

About 50 Labour MPs have signed a letter urging the NEC to reconsider its decision to block Burnham.

The date for the by-election has yet to be finalised.

Correction 28 January: An earlier version of this story stated in error that Shahbaz Sarwar had been selected as the Workers Party candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election. The party is yet to select its candidate from its list of four.