Burnham denies ‘simply untrue’ claim he was told in advance he would be rejected as Labour byelection candidate – live

Burnham was responding to a post on social media that reported claims from ‘sources close to PM’

This morning Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, said he had been told by a “source close to the PM” that Andy Burnham “was informed in no uncertain terms that he would be repulsed” if he applied to be the candidate in Gorton and Denton. Peston said No 10 “therefore interpret his application as an explicit attempt to destabilise Starmer and sow dissent, rather than – which he claims – see off the threat from Reform”.

Responding to Peston’s post on social media, Burnham said:

This is simply untrue.

Peston then posted a follow-up message saying that he had spoken to a second insider source saying that the first one was wrong and Burnham was right.