‘Up for a fight’: Lisa Nandy says it’s a personal decision for Starmer to face leadership contest

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has reportedly said that it is a “personal decision” for individual MPs whether they opt to challenge Keir Starmer for the potential leadership.

She also backed Andy Burnham to be back in Parliament at the heart of power. Meanwhile, the Great Manchester mayor is contesting a position for Labour in the Makerfield and is widely expected to launch a leadership challenge if he wins.

Sir Keir Starmer would have access to the ballot paper if he chose to contest for any leadership election. 

Keir Starmer should be replaced as Labour Leader, Nandy who represents the Greater Manchester constituency of Wigan told the BBC: “No I don’t. If I did, I wouldn't be in his cabinet.”

“I think that we were elected to bring an end to the chaos,” she said.

“I haven't spoken to him this weekend but I’ve spoken to him several times over the last week and obviously he’s shown that he’s up for a fight.”

Nandy, who was out supporting Burnham in Markerfield on Saturday, said: “ We were hearing that loud and clear.”

Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee which had blocked Burnham’s past attempts in wake of standing in a by-election, seeking further selection as Labour’s candidate in Makerfield.

At present, there are no accurate statistics for how the parties performed in Makerfield during the local elections because the boundaries do not align with the parliamentary constituency.

In this connection, Nandy said: “Because of Andy’s record as mayor, people who didn't vote last week were saying that they would vote for us again.”

“That’s why I make no apology for saying that I think he is a really important voice that needs to be heard loud and clear at the centre of Westminster.”

The UK’s relationship with the European Union seems to be an issue of deep political division. According to Nandy, she campaigned for Remain in the 2016 referendum, “ if the answer to all of this was the European Union, then essentially we’d be saying to people what was going on in 2015 in towns.”

"Well, I can tell you that it wasn't, that people's living standards had been falling, people's high streets had been falling apart, people's kids had had to get out to get on for some time, and that's to do with deindustrialisation and the failure of governments to address it," she said.