AIBU to think Andy Burnham might call a general election soon?

[Mywishistoclimbthe3peaks]

To think Andy Burnham will call a general election before Christmas? Yes it would be a massive roll of the dice but,

Reform - don't have the numbers for a GE and there's all frog faces suspicious money bringing him a lot of heat.

Torys - kemi doesn't have a lot of depth, I feel and she hasn't changed much in the polls. She's good at the dispatch box but let's face it anyone could stand up and insult the other side.

By calling a GE Andy would have his own mandate and break the deadlock of the back benchers.

Not being unreasonable = he needs to call a GE

Your being unreasonable = Robotic Kier and Ratchet Reeves have gone and Andy just needs to get on with it now.

I really hope he doesn't because it would be a colossal waste of time and money.
He/his party already has a mandate to rule. He just needs to get on with it.

Absolutely not, we don't need more expense and more disruption.

What we need is for the media and certain agitators in the political spectrum / public to stop actively hounding out prime ministers and calling for general elections ad nauseum.

I can't say I'm thrilled about his politics but what we need now is stability. No more revolving doors. Prime ministers should serve their term and be allowed to do so.

Or a Boris Johnson moment - kicking out the MPs that caused problems and getting some of his agenda through.

I doubt it

Not unless he wants to end up with, at best, a coalition of left-leaning parties.

He has a majority. He hasn’t done anything yet. No, he is unlikely to call an election.

No chance he would call for an election as Labour would lose.

I'm a lifelong labour supporter and voter and I absolutely despise the manner in which Burnham has been brought in like the bloody Messiah at the expense of Starmer. What does that actually say about all the other labour MPs and current cabinet? Personally I don't know if I could vote Labour again. Tory is out of the question, LibDems are a bigger joke than the Raving Loonies. I probably won't vote - we desperately need a "none of the above" option on ballot sheets.

No, he won't call a GE. Ego too big, risk too high, reality might shock.

Why would he? I don't think the country needs another election. We just need him to crack on.

It’s only a taste of their own medicine.

History shows us that Burnham is likely to benefit from an initial bounce in polling, but it will likely prove short lived.

Hopefully, he will try to shoehorn a GE in during this period, and the electorate can then consign socialism to the bin.

What a wretched government this has been.

Edit: the summer recess will also help Burnham mitigate some initial scrutiny….

To be honest, I’m completely bewildered by how he got here in first place.

Given the shady way he did, I don’t think he’ll chance going anywhere near an election.

Be careful what you wish for, caggers. Your beloved Reform won't win a majority going by current polling. You could end up with a 🌈 coalition of the left.

You never actually say anything - you merely attempt to silence posters with whom you don’t agree.

So, here’s a proposal for you - stay away from me, and I will stay away from you. Starting now, I will not respond - and I keep my word.

He would risk losing a massive labour majority. Being popular in very pro-Labour Manchester isn't a very good test. The 'King of the North' also has to win over the south because that is where the majority of the population lives. The current impression he gives is that the South will have to pay more, but benefit less. It isn't really a vote winner.

Arguable.

He will call one at any point he thinks he will have a good chance of winning.

The big problem for Burnham at the moment is that he is promising the biggest change in UK politics in 40 years.

Yet at the same time he is also promising to stick to the core of the 2024 manifesto.

Quite how it is possible to do both is something of a mystery. I suspect he has kept quiet about policy before he is secure in number 10 for a reason.

And I don't think he will be able to continue long without an election if he is going to enact significant changes of the kind he has hinted at.

Yes, and London and the SE pay 45% of the UK’s total income tax.

Don't be silly. I am not able to silence anyone (if only 😁). If I want to respond to your posts, I will.

I guess you don't like the truth, though.

For those of us who despise Labour, today is A. Good. Day.

Thank you. Labour has a clear mandate. I think some people don't understand the political system.

Considering that he wasn’t even an MP until a few weeks ago, I find it difficult to believe he has a legitimate right to become PM.

Only because you don't understand how our constitution works. Which is derived from the notion of liberal democracy wherein what is not forbidden is permitted. Basically what it means to be British.

A party gains the mandate based on the manifesto they present.

That's why all parties try very hard to stick to the manifesto, why manifesto pledge breaks are significant in the news and are avoided at all costs, and why politicians come up with all sorts of weasel words to try to claim they haven't broken manifesto pledges (such as the definition of working people).

Break a major manifesto pledge in an obvious and undefendable way and the subsequent public and media pressure is more than capable of bringing a government down, or ensuring they are punished at the next election.

He would lose half his seats

Ehh, I don't think it will tbh. It didn't in 2022, nobody voted for the Truss plan, and this government have an ever bigger majority. For whatever reason, our system doesn't really prevent this kind of thing.

Doesn't matter. It needs to stop. This is the government of the UK, not a playground popularity context.