Politics LIVE: Andy Burnham ban set to hand Reform by-election victory, damning poll reveals

Reform is on course to win the critical Gorton and Denton by-election after Sir Keir Starmer and his allies blocked Andy Burnham from standing, according to a damning first poll on the contest.

A Find Out Now survey puts Nigel Farage’s party three points ahead of Labour, with Reform on 30 per cent and Labour on 27 per cent.

The same poll indicated that Labour would have cruised to victory had Mr Burnham been allowed to stand.

With him as the Labour candidate, 49 per cent of respondents said they would have voted Labour, compared with 28 per cent for Reform, denying the party what would have been its ninth MP.

Find Out Now said its findings showed the contest “need not have been close at all” if Mr Burnham had been permitted to stand, adding that Reform now had a “strong chance” of victory.

On Sunday, Labour’s ruling national executive committee blocked Mr Burnham from contesting the February 26 by-election, a move that has plunged the party into civil war, with MPs and grassroots activists accusing the leadership of a “stitch-up”.

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