The Liberal Democrats are swiftly gearing up to take on Labour in the up-coming Gorton by-election - in the hope of creating another shock upset for Jeremy Corbyn’s party.

As Labour battles internally to set up its selection process, the Lib Dems expect to have their candidate finalised by Saturday afternoon.

Applications closed on Wednesday, followed by short-listing on Thursday and a ‘star chamber’ meeting yesterday at the party’s offices in Manchester, which saw them grilled by senior party figures to ensure they are up to the task.

The local party will then vote on the short-list this afternoon, before launching a day of action in the seat on Sunday.

So far a date for the by-election, which is being held following the death of veteran MP Sir Gerald Kaufman, has not been set.

But the Lib Dems have lost no time in mobilising.

Rumoured contenders for the candidacy include former Coun Jackie Pearcey, who has run in Gorton for the party in 1997, and Qassim Afzal, who ran Labour within 7,000 votes there at the 2010 general election.

John Leech, former MP for Withington and now the city’s only Lib Dem councillor, has ruled himself out.

Currently Gorton is one of the safest seats in the country, with a majority of nealy 25,000.

But prior to their vote collapse in 2015 the Lib Dems had been steadily gaining ground there - and the party now hopes to capitalise on Labour’s disarry over Brexit, having racked up a number of by-election successes in recent months.

Insiders are cautious about suggesting they could actually take the seat - but want to see how close they can run Labour.

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Gorton voted more than 60pc remain in the referendum and the party hopes to tap into an anti-Brexit vote disillusioned by Labour’s backing of Article 50 last month.

The party is also expected to campaign hard on local NHS services.

A campaign source said: “We start from a long way back but this will quickly develop into a very competitive two horse race between Labour and the Lib Dems. The Tories are nowhere in Manchester and UKIP’s divisive, nasty politics has no traction here, and in any case they are increasingly a busted flush.

“Pictures of Labour politicians traipsing into the lobby to support the Tories to yank Manchester out of the single market isn’t, we believe, likely to go down well here.”

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Gerald Kaufman was an extremely popular and respected MP and his are big shoes to fill.

“But we are going to give this by-election contest a right good go and while Labour will certainly be clear favourites, we are the only challengers, just as we are now providing the real opposition to the Conservative Brexit government.”

Other Lib Dem figures suggested the by-election could be a foundation for a Lib Dem comeback in Manchester as a whole in the 2018 local elections.

After the party joined David Cameron’s coalition in 2010 they haemorrhaged votes in the city, losing all of what at one time had been a substantial opposition group in the town hall.

However last year John Leech was re-elected onto the council in Didsbury and the party hopes Gorton could further demonstrate a Lib Dem revival.

As the Lib Dems prepare for battle, Labour is yet to appoint a selection panel for their own process.

It is understood a National Executive Committee meeting to discuss the issue yesterday ended in stalemate and will be reconvened on Monday.

Ultimately that meeting will decide who on the NEC then gets to whittle down the applicants, of which there is expected to be a long list.