Labour posted the clip of Mr Goodwin on its X feed yesterday just hours after it was announced he is standing for the party
Matt Goodwin speaking at a press conference(Image: PA Wire)
Reform UK says it has reported Labour to the police over a ‘misleading’ video attacking Matt Goodwin, its candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Labour posted the clip of Mr Goodwin on its X feed yesterday just hours after it was announced he was standing for the party.
In the video, Mr Goodwin says: “I was lucky enough, or unfortunate enough, to be in Manchester a few days ago and the energy in this room is 10 times what it was in Manchester, so congratulations.” The video was captioned by Labour: “This is what Reform’s latest candidate thinks about where he’s standing to represent.”
In a video posted to X today, Mr Goodwin said: “You may have a seen a selectively edited video clip last night that was shared by the Labour Party and many Labour politicians which implied that I was criticising the good people of Manchester, where I lived for many years, where my family’s from, when in reality I was criticising the Tory party during their conference in Manchester.
“This is why we at Reform UK have just given formal notice to Greater Manchester Police under section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 regarding the sharing dissemination of false statements about my candidacy at this by-election. Keir Starmer constantly blames the British people for what he calls misinformation, but here is Keir Starmer and the Labour party deliberately trying to misinform the people of Gorton and Denton.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage has repeatedly bemoaned the ‘policing of tweets’, yet he is now begging the authorities to look at a clip of his divisive candidate’s own words. It is as laughable as it is sad.
“Matt Goodwin and Reform have long had a disdain for Manchester and the North. The ones being misleading here are the Greens pretending they have any chance of winning in Gorton and Denton.
“Only Labour can take on Goodwin and Farage’s toxic politics and reject their shameless, divisive rhetoric that is not what our city stands for.”
Greater Manchester Police have been approached for comment.
Andrew Gwynne announced on January 22 that he would stand down as the Labour MP for Gorton and Denton, citing ‘significant ill health’ and advice from his doctor not to return to work. Mr Gwynne was suspended from the Labour Party last year amid the fall-out over comments contained in a WhatsApp group named ‘Trigger Me Timbers’.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, was blocked by the Labour Party from standing in the by-election after asking permission to do so.