Zack Polanski's Green Party has decided to hand Andy Burnham a huge boost in Makerfield by running a scaled-back campaign ahead of polls opening on June 18.
Despite opting to field a candidate, the Greens will only devote limited resources and instead focus on the potential by-election held to elect Mr Burnham's successor as Greater Manchester Mayor.
Sarah Wakefield was unveiled as the Green Party's candidate after Chris Kennedy stood down following revelations about his social media posts.
However, The Guardian's report on the Green Party's limited campaign follows a split on whether to field a candidate in Makerfield.
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's first-ever MP, and ex-co-leader Jonathan Bartley called on Mr Polanski not to contest the by-election.
A split on the Right could make the Greens' limited campaign even more significant, with Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain receiving seven per cent of the vote in a new Survation poll.
Mr Burnham received the backing of 43 per cent, putting the Greater Manchester Mayor narrowly ahead of Reform UK on 40 per cent.
FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY…
Treasury minister 'disagrees' with brutal Tony Blair Labour essay
Tony Blair
|GETTY
Dan Tomlinson said he disagreed with Sir Tony Blair’s take on workers’ rights policy and rejected suggestions that Labour was “stuck in this New Labour, old Labour battle”.
The Treasury minister told Sky News he agreed with some aspects of the essay but “on some things I just disagree with him”.
Mr Tomlinson said: “He says, for example, that our approach to workers’ rights and making sure the jobs market works for people wouldn’t be the approach he would take, but, you know, when Tony Blair was prime minister there weren’t many people at all on zero-hour contracts – I’m not sure they even existed as a form of contract in our jobs market.”
He said the current Labour Party was “not stuck in this New Labour, old Labour battle, which he talks about a lot in his essay, but is about what are the problems facing the country today and what do we need to do to fix them, and that’s what we’re getting on with."
Andy Burnham could trigger 'chaotic' leadership contest and early general election, Labour veteran fears
Andy Burnham could trigger a "chaotic" leadership contest and an early General Election, a Labour veteran has warned.
Former deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman has expressed concern a leadership challenge to Sir Keir Starmer could see the nation "tipped into a new General Election".
Despite the Labour peer saying she would welcome the return of Andy Burnham to Westminster, his potential leadership campaign would be "kind of chaotic", she admitted.
Speaking to Sky News, she said: "I don't want to say that a change of leadership is inevitable.
"I don't want a leadership challenge, and I also don't want a general election."
She continued: "There is a scenario in which the new leader, call him Andy Burnham for example, actually thinks, 'I need a new mandate' and Nigel Farage will be saying 'well yes the country does want a new Prime Minister but they want me, they don't want Andy Burnham, nobody's voted for him, he's a usurper'".
The Labour peer suggested Mr Burnham may feel the need to seek this own electoral mandate rather than continuing Sir Keir's agenda, particularly if he were to experience a surge in the polls if he takes over.
Therefore, he may call a General Election, she said, rather than repeat the error of Gordon Brown, who chose not to seek his own mandate despite a polling bounce when he became Prime Minister - a decision widely seen as the beginning of his political decline."
Defending why she thinks a leadership contest would be a bad idea, Baroness Harman added: "Stability is such a kind of fusty and unsexy proposition. But actually, I think people just want to get on with their lives, get on with their businesses, get on with things.
Tony Blair brutally hits out at Keir Starmer for 'lack of coherent plan' as he slams Labour over proposals to rejoin EU and Net Zero
Sir Tony Blair has brutally hit out at Sir Keir Starmer for a "lack of coherent plan" as he slammed Labour over the party's proposals to rejoin the EU and Net Zero policies.
In an essay published by the the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, the former Prime Minister criticises the current chaos engulfing the Labour Party, arguing it has an "extraordinarily retro 20th-century feel to it".
He wrote: "The Labour Party is playing with fire; or, more accurately, with its future, and that of the country."
Whilst he does not blame "Keir's personality" for the party's deteriorating popularity among the electorate, or its failure to communicate its successes or what it stands for, Sir Tony argues it is because there is not a "worked-out, coherent plan for the country in a fast-changing world".