The Prime Minister was asked whether the Greater Manchester Mayor should ‘continue to be blocked from a return to Parliament’
Sir Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham visiting a school in Ashton(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Sir Keir Starmer said he and Andy Burnham ‘work really well together’ but refused to say he would allow the Greater Manchester Mayor to return as an MP as he delivered a crunch speech today and refused to stand down as Prime Minister.
Sir Keir Starmer vowed to prove his ‘doubters’ wrong in his speech as he fought back against calls for him to quit. The Prime Minister said his party would ‘be better and do better’ as he took responsibility for Labour’s electoral mauling across England, Scotland and Wales last week.
After he delivered his speech earlier, Sir Keir was then asked whether he would ‘back continuing to block Mr Burnham from trying to return to Parliament’. This came after the Greater Manchester Mayor, who has been touted as a possible replacement to Sir Keir, was previously blocked from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
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Angela Rayner branded the decision to block Mr Burnham as a ‘mistake’ as she issued a blistering statement on Sunday following Labour‘s disastrous results in the local elections. Sir Keir said any further decisions on Mr Burnham returning to Westminster would be for Labour’s National Executive Committee.
“Obviously, any future decision is for the NEC”, Sir Keir said when asked about Mr Burnham. “Andy’s doing a great job as mayor in Manchester.
“And I actually work really well with Andy and I’ll give you two examples – on Northern Powerhouse Rail, which is really important for the North West. We are working together on that project. But equally, we stood together to support Manchester and the community when we had the terrible attack on a synagogue last year, and he was the first person I phoned, and I went straight to Manchester to work with him on our response.
“So, we work very well together, but the actual decision would be one for the NEC.”
Sir Keir Starmer pictured with Andy Burnham(Image: PA)
Sir Keir also said he had spoken to Angela Rayner but sidestepped a question of whether she had ruled out ever mounting a leadership challenge against him.
“I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you … I spoke to Angela many, many times, by the way, in the last few weeks, we are friends.
Sir Keir giving his speech on Monday(Image: James Manning/PA Wire)
“We get on very well, but I’m not going to go through each and everything that we discussed in those calls.”
He also said he had spoken to former Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan, who stood down after losing her seat, and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar since the local elections.
Sir Keir also issued a warning to his party, saying Britain was ‘not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents, very dangerous opponents’. He said: “This hurts, not just because Labour has done badly, but because if we don’t get this right, our country will go down a very dark path.”
The speech came after a weekend of speculation about potential leadership challenges, with former minister Catherine West suggesting she would launch an attempt to topple Sir Keir if a Cabinet member did not step forward instead. Sir Keir said he would fight any leadership challenge, saying he would not ‘walk away’.
He added: “I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will.”
Sir Keir’s speech on Monday was billed as setting out sweeping changes to tackle the “big challenges” confronting the UK in a bid to shore up support for his premiership.
The Prime Minister pledged to go further in his “reset” in relations with the EU, saying his Government would be defined by putting Britain at the “heart of Europe”.
He pledged to deliver “an ambitious youth experience scheme” with the EU so that “our young people can work and study and live in Europe, a symbol of a stronger relationship and a fairer future with our closest allies”.
Domestically, Sir Keir pledged to bring forward new legislation to nationalise British Steel, saying a commercial sale of its Scunthorpe steel works had not been possible since the Government took over the running of the plant last year.
And he vowed to block “far-right agitators” from coming to the UK for a march planned on Saturday, saying the demonstration was “designed to confront and intimidate”.
The Prime Minister’s speech comes after a weekend of speculation about potential leadership challenges, with former minister Catherine West suggesting she would launch an attempt to topple Sir Keir if a Cabinet member did not step forward instead.
Sir Keir said he would fight any leadership challenge, saying he would not “walk away”.
But he refused to be drawn on whether he would support an attempt by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to return to Parliament, saying it was up to Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC).
The NEC, dominated by supporters of the Prime Minister, blocked Mr Burnham’s bid to stand for the party earlier this year in the Gorton and Denton by-election that eventually saw Labour fall into third place behind the Greens and Reform UK.