Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out the possibility of a General Election in 2027. In a new interview with ITV, Mr Burnham was asked when the country will next go to the polls, and he confirmed that an early election will not happen.
Prime Minister's statement on election timing
The last General Election took place in 2024, when Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government won by a landslide. Mr Burnham took office after Sir Keir departed Downing Street, and the ITV documentary marks 100 days since the Aintree-born politician assumed office.
The 56-year-old said: "I said yesterday, no election in 2027. I said that really, really plainly yesterday. I’ll say it again today to you and the reason I say that is because I am not coming into this job full of political calculation in terms of ‘what do I need to do for how it benefits me or the party?’."
He added: "I come into the job genuinely feeling that the country needs a really clear change in terms of the way politics has been done because we’re in a messy position."
Mr Burnham’s previous position ahead of Labour’s party conference in September was that a General Election would not be called until the one scheduled in 2029.
Reaction to the Autumn Budget
The PM also reacted to the Autumn Budget in the new interview after Chancellor John Healey announced several cost of living changes during Wednesday's budget, including changes to minimum wage, fuel duty cuts and a one-off energy support payment.
Mr Burnham played down suggestions that the measures introduced as part of the Budget were radical. He said: "We took a decision on the Budget early on. The Chancellor came to me and said given everything, given the way the world is, and things changing by the, not even week, by the day, he felt it was right to go early and to close down some of the speculation we’ve seen in the past, because that’s added to the difficulties with budgets."
He continued: "And as we were going through, the numbers were changing a lot because of what was going on in the world. So, to come to your question, the room for manoeuvre wasn’t what I would have hoped it to be. I guess then the question is, you know, radical within what we were able to do. It was quite a big call to ask the banks to repay the help they had off people 20 or so years ago."
Energy bill support highlighted
Mr Burnham described the £100 energy bill support as one of the significant measures he has introduced as part of the Autumn Budget, calling it "quite a significant, significant step".
The PM was also asked whether it was the Budget he had hoped to deliver as part of the documentary. He said: "I don’t think any Prime Minister and Chancellor would say that, because a Budget is by definition a very difficult thing. In the times that we’re currently in, I feel that the volatility of things means you just can’t necessarily deliver the Budget that in an ideal world you would want to deliver."
