Andy Burnham has ruled out calling an early general election and said he will ‘honour’ Keir Starmer’s manifesto. The new Prime Minister insisted he ‘faced the public’ in the Makerfield by-election and had a mandate for his sweeping changes to the country.
Burnham's vow on election timing
Speaking after a busy first week in the top job, during which he pledged to roll out the biggest changes the UK has seen in four years, Burnham was interviewed by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. She put it to him that 48 million people in the electorate had not had a say on his ideas.
Asked if he would rule out an early general election, the new PM replied: ‘There is no general election. People voted for a manifesto. We are in a parliamentary democracy. That is what people voted for and I will honour that manifesto.’
He added: ‘I have faced the public in Makerfield. At the time I stood forward in the by-election, people said “oh my goodness, that constituency voted Reform in May, that is a risk.” I went and faced the public and I went out onto those doorsteps. I have done that I have got the support of colleagues in Parliament.’
Second time asked
Asked for a second time if he would rule it out, he said: ‘I am going to rule it out. There’s no early general election. I do not think people want it. Well, the opinion polls might say some people do, some people don’t. What I need to do is get Britain focused on getting the country back where it should be.’
Burnham’s vow means the country should not face a general election until 2029, five years after Keir Starmer swept to power in 2024. There had been speculation that the new PM would want to go to the polls after he wiped out Reform’s poll leader almost immediately after entering No 10. According to research from DeltaPoll, both parties are now on 28%, ahead of the Tories who languish behind on 18%.
Political risks and other issues
However it could now be politically tricky for Burnham to break his promise not to hold an early ballot. Theresa May repeatedly ruled out an early election after she became leader in 2016, and then faced backlash when she called one a year later.
During his interview, Burnham was also grilled on his relationship with Donald Trump. He twice refused to answer the question whether he trusted the US president. Instead, he answered: ‘It’s a changing world isn’t it, and you just obviously have to call things as they develop.’ Burnham added: ‘I can’t at any point say that I won’t take a different opinion from him [Trump], that I will need to voice a different idea that is right for Britain.’
Speaking from No 10 North, Burnham would also not commit to a date when the government would spend 3% of GDP on defence. His new Chancellor, John Healey, resigned from Starmer’s government over their refusal to hit the benchmark. Burnham said: ‘I appointed my new chancellor very aware of what he had said about the critical importance of defence spending and the position that he had taken about that. The first challenge facing us both is to ensure that the defence investment plan is fully funded and that’s the thing that’s right in front of us and we need to work that through as we go towards the budget later this year.’
