MANCHESTER does not want you, Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell told Reform party by-election candidate Matthew Goodwin today.

Speaking after Nigel Farage adopted the academic turned race-baiting pundit as candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election in the city, Ms Powell, who represents neighbouring Manchester Central, said Goodwin’s politics sought to “drive a wedge between communities in Manchester.”

She added that Reform had “misjudged” the city’s mood and offered “division, animosity and hatred — not the unity and pride which our city stands for.”

And Green leader Zack Polanski, whose party is in a race with Reform to win the Labour-held seat, said Goodwin’s candidacy was an insult to the constituency.

Mr Goodwin had “a track record of anti-Muslim bigotry,” Mr Polanski said, terming the campaign a battle “for the soul of our country.”

The advent of Mr Goodwin further enflamed the by-election, already at the centre of controversy after Keir Starmer acted to block popular Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from standing for the seat, which Labour held in 2024 with a 13,000 majority.

The Reform candidate, once a liberal academic before journeying to the far right, has attracted particular controversy for claiming that being born in Britain does not necessarily make someone British.

People from black, Asian or other immigrant backgrounds were not always British, he said: “It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.”

He has declined to qualify that claim, despite seeking election in a seat in which 44 per cent of voters identify as from an ethnic minority.

The battle for the soul of the Labour Party also heated up, with new Unison leader Andrea Egan and former party chair Ian Lavery MP both slamming Sir Keir’s leadership.

Ms Egan, writing in Tribune, warned that “the first far-right government in our history is a very real prospect” — a prospect she described as “existential” for trade unionists and democrats.

“But from witnessing the recent behaviour of Labour’s ruling faction, you wouldn’t know it. Spearheaded from Downing Street, this narrow Westminster grouping often gives the impression it would rather hand the country over to Farage and put the labour movement’s survival on the line than consider any change in policy direction or lose the slightest control over the party machine.”

She added that the reasons given for blocking Mr Burnham were “an insult to the intelligence of anyone unfortunate enough to have read them,” adding that those running the party cannot be allowed to “take us down with them.”

Ms Egan concluded that “a radical change in direction — in party culture, in policy for the country, in how we deal with the far-right threat — could not be more urgently needed.”

And Mr Lavery said: “The Labour Party is on life support. If something doesn’t change and change quickly, the consequences will be existential. A party born with Keir Hardie risks dying with Keir Starmer.”

Today Sir Keir claimed that only Labour could defeat Reform in the constituency, an assertion contradicted by all available polling evidence.

The Prime Minister slammed the Reform candidate, saying that he showed the party embracing “the politics of toxic division, of tearing people apart. That’s not what that constituency is about, it’s not what Manchester is about, so this is a straight fight between Labour and Reform.”

In fact, it seems more likely to be a fight between Reform and the Greens. The influential campaign group Muslim Vote has urged Muslims to back the Greens.

The Workers Party has also opted to stand, with a shortlist including popular local campaigner Shabaz Sarwar, who secured a seat on Manchester council by defeating Labour’s deputy mayor.

Party leader George Galloway, also on the shortlist, revealed he had rejected calls to stand the party down.

He said those urging this were “howling at the moon” citing difference with the Greens on LGBTQ “infatuations” and Nato membership as well as Mr Sarwar’s popularity in Manchester.

“My erstwhile friends should take their toy tanks off our lawn,” he added.

The character of the Reform campaign was highlighted by Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, who said Reform would focus on houses of multiple occupancy — which he claimed were home to “upwards of four or five single young men, creating all sorts of mayhem, committing crimes, terrorising neighbourhoods.”

Stand up to Racism warned that “Goodwin is a racist” and Hope not Hate director Nick Lowles said his group would be “going all in to stop Matthew Goodwin getting elected.”

Even Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said “trying to tell people who is or who isn’t British based on their personal opinion is divisive. Think what would happen if such people came into government.”