Senior Labour figures have insisted the party is united behind leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham and dismissed the prospect of a general election to secure a mandate for any major shifts in policy.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed suggested Sir Keir Starmer’s likely successor would introduce “changes in emphasis” but stick to the “fundamentals” like the Government’s rules on borrowing.
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell said the newly-elected MP had built up a “clear sense of purpose” and suggested people wanted the party to “get on with the job” rather than go to the country.
Burnham’s By-Election Success and Party Polling
Mr Burnham defied national trends to increase Labour’s vote share in the Makerfield by-election this month following its disastrous set of local election results in May, which intensified calls for Sir Keir’s resignation. But the party has consistently slumped in the polls for months, and opposition critics have called for a general election to come with the change in leader as speculation mounts about his policy platform.
Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Reed, who has been a key ally to Sir Keir and cautioned against replacing him as recently as last month, said Labour would stand “four square behind Andy to deliver the change this country voted for two years ago”.
“The public do not want a general election, and that’s not just my instinct. You can look at the polls that tell us the vast majority do not. They want us to get on with the job,” he told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.
Recent polling gives a mixed picture of the public appetite for a general election, with a YouGov survey this week showing 48% in favour of a national vote when Sir Keir’s successor is in post compared with 35% against. In another by More in Common, taken between June 19 and 22, only 37% of respondents said there should be a vote compared with 43% saying the new prime minister should get on and govern.
Burnham’s Policy Agenda and Devolution Plans
Asked about Mr Burnham’s agenda, the Housing Secretary indicated he would want to put “rocket boosters” under Labour’s devolution ambitions amid speculation he will hand regional mayors more control if he enters No 10.
Sir Keir announced his resignation in an emotional speech on Monday, when he accepted he had lost the support of his MPs following the Makerfield MP’s return to Westminster and promised an “orderly handover of power”.
Asked how he thought the Prime Minister had been treated, Mr Reed told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “Well, it’s politics, isn’t it?” He added: “Of course, I have sympathy. You can’t – I’ve listened, you know, his voice was cracking with emotion when he gave that speech… we’re all in politics, and it’s a game of rough and tumble, so it’s to be expected.”
He said the level of “abuse and hatred” directed online towards the man in No 10 was “shocking” but that Mr Burnham had offered a “positive” vision to counter negativity on social media.
Labour Unity and No Election Needed, Say Backers
Burnham backer Ms Powell said she had spoken to the former mayor in recent days and he was “very keen” on changing the culture within Labour, which she has previously described as a “boy’s club” with too many anonymous briefings to the media.
“I think we’ve seen one of the reasons Andy is so well-known, and he’s so popular and well-liked, is because he has built up over a long period of time a sense of clear purpose and a sense of whose side he is on,” she said.
Ms Powell insisted a national vote would not be needed and rejected suggestions of hypocrisy after she called on the Tories to hold a general election when they changed leader following Liz Truss’s resignation in 2022.
“I think what people actually want to see now is us getting on with the job, delivering on the manifesto that we were elected on only two years ago, a very bold and radical manifesto that’s still got many things in it we need to follow through on,” she told the BBC.
Unless a candidate emerges to challenge Mr Burnham for the Labour leadership, he is likely to enter Downing Street as soon as July 20.
Cabinet Speculation and Economic Vision
Meanwhile, the former Greater Manchester mayor continues to mull his future cabinet. Rachel Reeves appears to have conceded she will no longer be staying on as Chancellor, with several senior ministers including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband tipped to succeed her.
Ms Powell said she thought Mr Miliband would be good at running the Treasury but cautioned against “tittle-tattle” over who may get which job on Sunday. Mr Reed said he would be “very happy” to keep his Cabinet position under an Andy Burnham government and had been speaking to the former Greater Manchester mayor in recent days, but that appointments would be a matter for the leader.
Elsewhere, an unlikely alliance of some trade unionists and city traders have reportedly urged Mr Burnham against appointing Mr Miliband as chancellor, because they believe his net zero policies to be damaging. But transport union the TSSA has thrown its weight behind the former Labour leader.
The former Greater Manchester mayor is expected to use a speech on Monday to argue for a radical devolution of power and money away from Whitehall, as well as pledging growth and committing himself to Labour’s fiscal rules.
A long-standing proponent of devolution, Mr Burnham will set out plans to boost economic growth by giving regional mayors more control over social housing, welfare and post-16 education, according to The Times. Such an agenda would be in line with the views he set out in his book, Head North, alongside his friend and fellow mayor Steve Rotheram. In the book, Mr Burnham said the current system saw regional leaders going “on bended knee” to Westminster and called for a “more balanced approach, where councils and mayors were dealt some cards too”.
