Lisa Nandy said any distraction could make northern towns, disproportionately affected by Conservative decisions from 2010 to 2024, suffer most
Left and right on back row: Jamie Driscoll, Mayor of the North of Tyne Combines Authority, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, Steve Rotherham, Mayor of City of Liverpool Region. Left and right on front row: Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer(Image: Getty Images)
Leadership debate, including the speculation surrounding Andy Burnham in recent months, could be ‘devastating’, the Culture Secretary has said.
Lisa Nandy, who serves as the MP for Wigan, told the Manchester Evening News that ‘endless speculation’ about the Labour leadership threatens the government’s progress when ‘we have a Prime Minister’ who was ‘voted for in overwhelming numbers’.
The Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) called Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham a ‘bright spot on the horizon during some very dark years’, but said it would be ‘absolutely devastating’ to contemplate a move away from Sir Keir Starmer.
“Obviously, I work very closely with [Andy Burnham], he was my neighbour in Leigh for a long time and he’s been really a bright spot on the horizon during some very dark years of the last Conservative government, showing how we can do things differently, and I think he’s doing an incredible job,” said Ms Nandy in an exclusive interview.
“But this endless speculation about the government is really unhelpful to the country. It holds us back from making the change that people have been crying out for for such a long time, and have voted for in overwhelming numbers just 18 months ago.”
Last month, Mayor Burnham hit out at reports that he’s plotting a return to Parliament to challenge Sir Keir Starmer after the May elections.
According to the Sunday Times, his allies identified a ‘nailed-on’ seat where polling shows he could take on Reform. But Mr Burnham posted to X: “Quite a lot of rubbish in the papers today. Reminds me why I left Westminster in the first place!”
Sir Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy(Image: Getty Images)
Ms Nandy said any distraction around the country’s leadership or Westminster comebacks could make northern towns, disproportionately affected by Conservative decisions from 2010 to 2024, suffer most.
“As an MP for a town that has really been at the sharp end of some of those decisions under the last Conservative government, I think it would be absolutely devastating for people if we were to do anything other than wake up every day, thinking about how we can turn 15 years of decline around and start to enable people to live their lives that they want to live.
“We have a Prime Minister. He is relentlessly focussed on the issues facing the country, and that is what the cabinet is doing, and I’m doing as well.”
Mr Burnham has long refused to rule out launching another bid to be Labour leader, including fuelling leadership rumours at Labour conference in September. One seat previously talked up is Gorton and Denton, held by Andrew Gwynne. Mr Gwynne, who was suspended by Labour over offensive WhatsApps, has denied he would stand aside for Mr Burnham.
Labour MP Clive Lewis has previously said he would step aside in Norwich South to make way for Mr Burnham but the seat is a long way from Manchester. In December, Burnham said he believes people ‘underestimate’ what a ‘wrench’ it would be for him to leave his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester as he responded to again being touted as a potential leader of his party.
However, he said that ‘if the call came’ to return to government, ‘I’m not going to just turn away from it’.
Wigan MP and Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publis)
The Wigan MP’s comments came as she opened applications on January 14 for the first-ever UK Town of Culture competition, intended to showcase towns across the nation, and revive forgotten places.
The Culture Secretary hopes her UK Town of Culture competition will go some way to ‘restoring pride in communities’. With 11 weeks to apply, the contest is open to small, medium and large towns, with the winner ‘delivering a vibrant cultural programme’.
That could include ‘new arts venues, performances, workshops, and more’, as each town has its own ‘unique story to tell’. The strongest bids will progress to a shortlist, with each shortlisted town receiving £60,000 to help deliver their vision.
Three finalists – one small, one medium, one large town – will be chosen. The winner will be crowned UK Town of Culture 2028 and receive a £3 million prize. The two runners-up will each receive £250,000 to deliver elements of their bid, ‘from refreshed community infrastructure to electric music festivals’.
Expressions of interest for UK Town of Culture 2028 start now, with the deadline of March 31 2026, and the shortlist of towns expected to be announced this spring.
The Culture Secretary paid tribute to the Greater Manchester mayor, and his work on the City of Culture programme when he was in Westminster. Ms Nandy said: “That’s where the idea of Town of Culture came from. Last time Labour was in government.
“It was Andy Burnham who came up with the idea of City of Culture, and that’s been a runaway success for those cities that have won the contest.
“It’s brought huge numbers of visitors. It’s helped to celebrate their role. It helps people to share the pride that they feel for their community, with the country and with the world.
“We want towns to be able to benefit from that as well.”
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham(Image: PA)
The Culture Secretary said she supports moving jobs out of London and the southeast, especially more senior jobs, after facing backlash around working from the DCMS Manchester office.
Mayors, including Andy Burnham, are crucial advocates for areas outside of London and the southeast, according to the Wigan MP.
“We’re working with mayors and councils the length and breadth of the country, and putting them in the driving seat of the decisions that are made about their communities,” she continued.
“Because they understand the potential of their communities far better than people who are based for most of the week in Westminster and Whitehall… For that reason, when we do trade missions and delegations overseas, the mayors were a regular feature on those, because that’s the way they work with the assets in their communities.
“Andy Burnham’s done fantastic work over in Japan, in Osaka, helping to increase investment into the creative industries in Greater Manchester, which is creating jobs, having huge benefits because they understand the strengths and assets in their own communities.
“That’s what we want to do as a government – not tokenistic change, but genuine radical reform that hands power back to people and puts them in the driving seat of their own lives.”