Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick has branded Prime Minister Andy Burnham "Keir Starmer 2.0" during a scathing appearance on GB News. Speaking after Burnham's first address in the House of Commons, Jenrick said the speech was "a bit of a damp squib".
'More of the same'
Jenrick said: "He's wanted this job for years and years and years. We had the summer when he was supposedly on his listening tour around the country in his polo shirt. Now, he's put on a suit and a tie and come back to Parliament, and the hard truth is, it's just more of the same."
He added: "A little bit more fluent than wooden old Keir Starmer, but has he actually got any answers to the problems facing the country? No."
'Not the big change he promised'
Noting that Burnham had given vague responses on North Sea oil and gas projects, welfare savings and immigration, Jenrick declared: "This is Keir Starmer 2.0, and it's not the big change he promised just a few weeks ago, which the country is crying out for."
Following Jenrick's appearance, viewers took to X to share their reactions. One wrote: "Agreed, absolute nothing @andyburnham @UKLabour." Another tweeted: "He's worse than Starmer. I can attest to that, living in Greater Manchester."
A third said: "Sad to say Burnham does not even seem as capable as Starmer, and we all know how feckless Starmer was. Burnham is out of his depth and still thinks he is helping to run a city rather than a whole country."
First address as PM
Burnham gave his first address as Prime Minister in the House of Commons on Tuesday. He said: "From the 1980s, this country took a series of wrong turns. Political power was centralised, economic power privatised, the country deindustrialised, and austerity followed, hollowing out councils and depriving them of the agency to act to reverse any of this. And then Brexit compounded the damage, ushering in a decade of low growth and stalled regeneration."
He added: "Change begins with honesty, Mr Speaker. I'm not hearing much of it this afternoon. Unless we are blunt about what went wrong, we won't turn things around. Far from taking back control, the combination of these policies took control out of the hands of communities up and down Britain."
Concluding on a note of optimism, Burnham said: "Mr Speaker, when I stood outside Downing Street six weeks ago, I said Britain needs a circuit breaker after a decade of turbulence, negativity, point scoring and divisive politics. This is what I have outlined today. A clear, coherent, and credible approach to growth that can unlock a feeling of positivity and possibility in every postcode in Britain."
Burnham is due to return to the House of Commons for his first session of Prime Minister's Questions today.
