Scottish Labour frontbencher warns Keir Starmer is 'toast' as PM urged to step aside for Andy Burnham

Mr Burnham eased to victory in the Makerfield by-election, comfortably beating Nigel Farage’s Reform UK by more than 9,000 votes to begin plotting a route to become the next prime minister.

Allies of the new MP have called on Sir Keir to set out a timetable to hand over power in September to avoid Labour being engulfed in a hostile civil war, akin to the era of turmoil under the previous UK Conservative government.

As Mr Burnham gets set to re-enter the House of Commons, a Scottish Labour frontbencher at Holyrood told The Scotsman Sir Keir’s leadership is “toast”.

READ MORE: Labour figures in firing line amid anger over Holyrood election defeat

The senior MSP added: “It’s only a matter of time before he’s away, so it would be wise for him to do the right thing. The last thing we need at Westminster is the Labour party embroiled in a brawl.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said “congratulations to Andy Burnham and the Labour team on a big win in Makerfield” in a post on social media.

He added that “it’s clear that lessons need to be learned” following Scottish Labour’s dismal showing at the two by-elections in Aberdeen South and Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, but argued Mr Burnham’s victory “proves that Reform can be beaten across the UK”.

According to reports, UK transport secretary Heidi Alexander, a key ally of Mr Burnham, told Sir Keir to set out a timetable for leaving office, while several Labour MPs have repeated that call.

Sir Keir has insisted he will fight his rivals should a contest be triggered after the outgoing mayor and former Leigh MP’s return to Westminster. Mr Burnham defied national trends to increase Labour’s share of the vote in Makerfield.

READ MORE: Andy Burnham wins Makerfield by-election to set up challenge to Keir Starmer

The Prime Minister said he will not “walk away” from Downing Street and has been holding calls with members of his Cabinet to shore up support in the wake of the by-election result.

Speaking to reporters at an event in north London, Sir Keir said: “If there is a contest, then yes, I will stand.

“I have said repeatedly, I am not going to walk away from that.”

The Prime Minister said he had not yet directly spoken with Mr Burnham since his victory, but added that he will, and had already sent a message of congratulations to him.

In a call with Labour staffers, he called for the party to “pull together” in taking the fight to Reform UK and warned against “turning on each other”.

He said: “The one thing we’ve got to avoid doing is plunging our party and our country into chaos by turning on each other and tearing apart our party and our movement.

“That has never worked. That’s what the last government did. We need to learn that lesson.”

Sir Keir is understood to have amassed a war chest to fund his campaign to fight any leadership challenge with the backing of a group of private donors.

READ MORE: How Scottish Labour's Holyrood campaign collapsed as pressure mounts on Anas Sarwar

Fundraising has ramped up in the past two days with total pledges running into six figures, according to reports.

At a Labour rally following his win, Mr Burnham said: “We’ve been on a path for 40 years that simply hasn’t worked for people and places in this part of the world, and this now is the change moment.

“We have an opportunity to turn the tide, to make the country feel like it’s working again, to make people see that politics can make a positive difference, to make people feel hope again.”

He added: “I think we need in this country right now for people to feel a sense of hope that there is something better to work towards on the horizon.”

Signalling his priorities should he succeed in replacing Sir Keir, he called for reindustrialisation, reforms to Whitehall and an end to the “unfairness” of the immigration system.

Makerfield is the third successive parliamentary by-election in which Mr Farage’s party has come second over the past year, following the Caerphilly by-election for the Welsh Parliament in October, and the Gorton and Denton Westminster by-election in February.

Mr Burnham defeated Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon by 9,231 votes, up from 5,399 in 2024, and Labour’s vote share increased by 9.61 per cent.

Following his win, he said Labour had a “final chance to change”, and he urged his party to act now, saying there would be no second chance.

He said: “Everyone knows that politics isn’t working.

“Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.”

In an attempt to address the assertion that he was only seeking to become Makerfield’s MP to further his own ambitions, he said: “It will never be a stepping stone to me, but instead will be my touchstone.

“A Makerfield test at the heart of British politics will make sure that the places Westminster has neglected will now get fairness.”

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Scotland Office minister Kirsty McNeill has insisted that Sir Keir is “getting on with the job” despite the impending challenge from Mr Burnham and potentially Wes Streeting.

Ms McNeill said Mr Burnham will be a “great new Member of Parliament and a great champion”, but urged her Labour colleagues to “crack on” with their current jobs.

She added: “I’m a member of the Prime Minister’s government and proud to be so.

“I support the Prime Minister, I think we should all get on with jobs we were sent to Westminster to do.

“The Prime Minister has this week been at the G7, I myself last week was in China promoting trade with Scotland.

“We have got serious jobs to do and we should crack on with doing them.”

Ms McNeill stressed that “there is no leadership contest”, arguing that the next task for Labour is to retain the Greater Manchester mayoralty, following Mr Burnham’s Makerfield success.

She said his victory had shown that “when the Labour Party comes together, we can win” and that the party could “absolutely beat Reform”.

Ms McNeill said: “The next general election, it looks like is going to be a fight between Labour and Reform, and that is a fight we must win.”