![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Email-new-v2.0.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAdditionally, there is rising pressure from PM-in-waiting, Andy Burnham, plus political fatigue and declining public trust in political institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Bedford, a town with a politically diverse population and representation split across parties and wealth (see\u00a0local council members<\/a>, deprivation indices of Bedford<\/a>), the national political turbulence raises an important question: Does the public think politics works?\u00a0<\/p>\n With a directly elected Conservative mayor, one Labour and two Tory MPs and a Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, it\u2019s clear the ballot box reflects the diversity of the Borough\u2019s political opinions.<\/p>\n What do Bedfordians think?<\/p>\n Speaking to people in Bedford town centre, it\u2019s clear that there is a mixture of opinions.<\/p>\n Saran, a student, told us that he believed that the prime minister was simply receiving \u201ctoo much backlash\u201d and that the only answer was to be \u201cstepping down at some point\u201d, sooner or later.<\/p>\n However, there are split opinions on whether having such a high turnover of prime ministers is a bad thing, and whether politics in Britain is working.\u00a0<\/p>\n A teenager who spoke to us said that it was an \u201cobvious problem\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t had stability in a long time, and I think stability might be a key thing when you\u2019re trying to lead a country,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bit disheartening to see that we haven\u2019t had someone good enough to be prime minister.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She also doesn\u2019t think politics is working: \u201cI mean, it\u2019s not. We\u2019ve got a lot of extremism right now on both ends of the spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n However,\u00a0Liberato \u2018Libby\u2019 Lionetti, who owns La Piazza in St Peter\u2019s Square, shared that he\u2019s not worried at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes it [democracy] stronger.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes it stronger because people are trying to make things better. \u2029So why hold on to something that people are not happy with?<\/p>\n \u201cI think politics [is] working because it\u2019s all positive in the sense that if it\u2019s not going right, it gets changed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Andy Burnham and the future of devolution<\/p>\n Andy Burnham has positioned himself as one of the country\u2019s most prominent advocates for transferring power away from Westminster.<\/p>\n As the former metropolitan mayor of Manchester, he has a vision of a \u201cNo. 10 North\u201d and has rekindled debates about whether power should continue to be concentrated in Westminster.<\/p>\n Saran explained that he understands the concept, but isn\u2019t sure that it will actually do anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, the intent would be to lead to more situational policies for different places because, obviously, different places will experience different needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut you look at some of the powers that the local council has already, and they don\u2019t really do much with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bedford mayor and devolution<\/p>\n Bedford, since around 1264, has had some form of a mayor, but strictly ceremonial.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, in 2002, Bedfordians voted in a referendum to replace their ceremonial mayor and instead have an elected mayor to support the council.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bedford is among 13 unitary authorities that currently have a directly elected mayor.<\/p>\n The current mayor, Tom Wootton (Conservative), said: \u201cBedford Borough must be part of the conversation on devolution and the interests of our residents and businesses must be fully represented and considered.\u201d<\/p>\n He believes \u201cdevolution is not a magic wand, and it will not, by itself, solve the serious challenges facing local government.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n However, he isn\u2019t anti-greater devolution, stating he is \u201copen to the possibility of real devolution, particularly if it brings meaningful powers, investment, and better outcomes for local people.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether he would be the incumbent mayor, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n Bedford MPs and the current political landscape<\/p>\n Two of the MPs who represent Bedford Borough residents gave us their thoughts on the political upheaval.<\/p>\n Mohammad Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford and Kempston, told us: \u201cGovernments have had to navigate a series of unprecedented crises\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPolitics is still capable of delivering change, but it requires leadership with clear ideas, honesty about the challenges we face, and the ability to bring people together rather than divide them.\u201d<\/p>\n On further devolution, he said that it would empower local leaders \u2013 in principle, a positive development.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, devolution cannot simply be about shifting responsibilities without providing the funding to match.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, I will judge any proposals on whether they improve people\u2019s lives, strengthen local democracy and help deliver economic growth across the whole country.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a clear direction, optimism and some bold action to make the changes people voted for.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile leadership in Westminster may change, my commitment to serving my constituents does not.\u201d<\/p>\n Blake Stephenson, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, said, \u201cI will always work cross-party in the best interests of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will continue to scrutinise Government policy going forward, after already speaking 135 times in parliament and submitting more than 1,500 formal questions to government ministers.\u201d<\/p>\n Wider national debate<\/p>\n As Westminster once again enters a period of political transition, opinion in Bedford appears likely to reflect a wider national debate on whether politics is still capable of delivering meaningful change.<\/p>\n For some residents, another prime ministerial resignation represents further evidence of political instability and growing disconnection.\u00a0<\/p>\n For others, figures such as Andy Burnham may offer an opportunity to reshape how communities are represented.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, a key problem that Andy Burnham is facing overall is the criticism that his popularity only spans the North.\u00a0<\/p>\n Saran said: \u201cI had not heard of Andy Burnham until the resignation of Keir Starmer. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve not really looked into him. I don\u2019t really have much of an opinion on him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Libby shared similar views. \u201cWell, he hasn\u2019t represented us\u2026He\u2019s from a different part of England, where he was very proactive in what he was doing, so he\u2019s well known there for what he does.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd for him to now be asked to be a political leader\u2026there must be something good that he\u2019s been doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut for me, he hasn\u2019t represented me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK continues its period of political uncertainty following the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, marking the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[7786,34288,13,5043,34289,34290,34291,14,1093],"class_list":["post-75938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-andy-burnham","tag-blake-stephenson-mp","tag-britain","tag-devolution","tag-libby-lionetti","tag-mayor-tom-wootton","tag-mohammad-yasin-mp","tag-politics","tag-sir-keir-starmer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116857016548512674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Libby](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Libby-Liberato-Lionetti.jpg\")
Libby, during his day job at La Piazza. Image: Bedford Independent.<\/p>\n![\"Bedford](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Bedford-Kemspton-MP-Mohammad-Yasin-Labour-speaking-at-PMQs-24-July-2024.-Image-Screenshot-via-Parlia.webp\")
Bedford & Kempston MP Mohammad Yasin (Labour) speaking at PMQs 24 July 2024. Image: Screenshot via Parliament.TV.<\/p>\n![\"Prime](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Prime-Minister-Keir-Starmer-speaking-at-Kimberley-College-about-Universal-Studios-UK-looked-on-by-st.webp\")
Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaking at Kimberley College about Universal Studios UK looked on by students at the college, Comcast president Michael J. Cavanagh and the Chancellor. Image: Bedford Independent<\/p>\n