Burnham unopposed & likely to be PM by mid July

[Twiglets1]

Wes Streeting confirms on social media that he won’t stand as a candidate for the Labour leadership. He says that a contest where candidates spent the summer “exaggerating small differences” would not be good for the party or the country, and having spoken to Burnham, he is confident that that there is “a place” for the policies he has been advocating under a Burnham premiership.

The Guardian say this means it is now very, very likely that Burnham will be PM be mid July. It is conceivable that another candidate may come forward. But, apart from Streeting, no one else has publicly signalled an intention to stand, and with Burnham now a shoo-in, it is hard to imagine any other MP getting the support they would need to be a candidate.

heguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-resignation-timeable-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-prime-minister-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-6a390a538f08adffab1e97fd#block-6a390a538f08adffab1e97fd

Nominations don't open for more than 2 weeks. I would expect Burnham is more likely to lay out a plan at that stage, as will anyone else who is standing, than he is now.

In the meantime, I would work on the assumption that if Burnham (or another candidate) haven't said otherwise, they agree with the manifesto.

I think we need to give him a chance - he was only sworn in as an MP yesterday!

Come off it, He's been planning this for months and months. If he doesn't know what he is going to do now, he is literally just another Starmer who will blow with the wind.

Trouble is if he cuts welfare to fund defence he will both attract some voters back from Reform but also lose some to the Lib Dems or Green Party.

Every policy will be unpopular with some. That's why a PM has to have strong convictions about what is the best path for the good of the country.

This is the trouble with UK politics - people already deciding he is a failure when he was only sworn in as an MP yesterday and the leadership challenge hasn't even started yet apart from a date has been announced.

I would have been happy to stick with Starmer but if that is not to be, think we should at least give the next Labour leader a chance.

Of course welfare cuts will be unpopular especially to those who get cut. But defence is critical and his matra is "place over party" isn't it?

Agree.

Agree that defence is critical. But it remains to be seen whether he is allowed to enact that policy (assuming he becomes PM) without being torn to shreds by the media and all those who are against cut to welfare. Just from MN threads it is clear that it is a highly emotive issue and Starmer was heavily criticised just for trying to cut the pensioners winter fuel allowance. Many pensioners don't even need that allowance (while some do of course).

Whether welfare cuts are unpopular depends on how they’re done. Burnham is very keen on getting the 1million NEETs off benefits and into employment. He thinks that can be achieved by incentivising employers and increasing the number of apprenticeships. If the benefits bill was cut in that way, who could object?

Many, many things are critical.

I haven't seen the mantra 'place over party' - could you link to the quote?

I posted this on a different thread re Burnham's potential policies (from the BBC):

Public control of water, energy and transport
Burnham has repeatedly advocated bringing water "back under stronger public control", pointing to the Greater Manchester bus network, which is run by private operators but has public oversight and control, as a model. He has, however, advocated public ownership for companies like Thames Water.
"We do need to bring down water bills, energy bills, rail fares, just as we brought down bus fares in Greater Manchester, to make life more affordable for people," he said in his victory speech after winning the Makerfield seat.
Social care
Burnham has been a long term supporter of reform to social care, dating back to his time as a health minister under Tony Blair in 2006-07 and then health secretary under Gordon Brown in 2009-2010.
He has repeatedly suggested inheritance tax should be replaced with a "national care levy" which, he said in a speech in 2023, would mean the "care [that] is provided is free" and "everybody would pay but obviously the wealthiest would pay the most."
Defence spending
Last week, John Healey resigned as Sir Keir's defence secretary, claiming the draft government proposals would take UK defence spending to 2.68% of GDP by 2030, falling "well short" of the 3% target he considered necessary.
Speaking to the Times a day after Healey's resignation, Burnham said alongside the 10-year approach to defence and security, there needed to be reform of public investment and procurement.
He told the paper that this would reduce the welfare bill by bringing recipients into the workforce, ensuring more money was available for defence.
"I am not squeamish about saying that the plan would be to reduce the welfare bill. Not at all," he said.
Big council home expansion and possible tax reforms
In his campaign launch speech, Burnham said he wanted "the biggest programme of council house building since the Second World War".
He suggested this could be funded by rediverting the existing £39bn affordable housing programme entirely to social rent homes.
Also at his campaign launch, Burnham indicated he wanted to change how business, property and land is taxed, including reforms to what he described as a "highly regressive" council tax.
Burnham has long expressed support for a land value tax (LVT) - an annual tax based solely on the value of the land itself, excluding any buildings or improvements on the property.
Northern leg of HS2 making a comeback?
In an interview with iNews, Burnham said he wanted to resurrect the northern leg of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester.
Cutting business rates
Burnham has called for a "new drive of re-industrialisation" across the north of England and the rest of the UK.
"It's about time we started backing British business and British industry so we can re-industrialise places like this," he said after winning the seat.
During the by-election campaign, his team sent out a policy document promising a cut in business rates for pubs and music venues by 20%.
That would be paid for, they said, by higher taxes of out-of-town warehouses used by online retailers like Amazon. Burnham also wants to raise the threshold at which business rates kick in, taking lots of small high street shops out of paying altogether.
Education
In his speech after victory in Makerfield, Burnham said he wanted an education system that was not dominated by the university route, but one which "offers a path for everybody, academic and technical in equal balance".
He also said he wanted to secure more work placements for 16 to 18-year-olds and guarantees of apprenticeships.
National Insurance
Burnham told BBC Newsnight he wanted to reconsider the increase in National Insurance paid by employers, brought in by Rachel Reeves in the 2024 Budget.
Waspi women
Burnham was reported to have told a hustings event during the campaign he would "stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness".
But following concern about the cost of such a scheme, a spokesperson clarified that he "accepts the final decision" of the government not to grant compensation.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clywzj2vk3zo

It would appear that this think tank is endorsing all things Burnham.
https://www.compassonline.org.uk

Led by Neal Lawson and Caroline Lucas.
Its aim being a progressive coalition.

Lawson has also set this up
https:/www.mainstreamlabour.org/founding-statement

From the Compass site
"Hear from the the widest range of voices in the progressive movement - from international thinkers like Yanis Varoufakis and George Monbiot, to politicians like Dawn Butler, Caroline Lucas,Lisa Nandy and Andy Burnham, to organisers working on the ground in Preston and Cumbria."

Not sure many would. Rolling back most of Starmers anti employment stuff would be a great start.

It wouldn’t make enough difference. There has to be an incentive to work for people on benefits. Employers would just take the NI cut and add it to their profits.

It would make a difference - Starmer caused a lot of damage - he says himself he created his "workers right act" gave the most rights to workers in a generation, the consequence to that is the biggest increase in the burden of being an employer in a generation. I really hope that Burham is going to come in and work with business like he has in Manchester rather than against it like Starmer. If he puts actions behind growth rather than every increasing barriers that would be great. Starmer seemed to think that if you said we need growth enough times it would happen like some kind of "we believe in fairies" chant at the panto.

I disagree. I don’t think it would make a ha’pporth of difference.

This….loads of posts i could quote but deffo this

im so disappointed in them

I think the trouble is that no matter who you vote in, the press and party can come along and upend it all at will.

What is the point in us voting for a party who have picked a leader if they can't do that properly and decide to change it and make the country back someone else whenever they like? I know the Tories did it too and frequently, but it feels like they are cheating and getting PM's in by stealth that the country would never vote for in reality. I think they need to change the law on this and force a GE if they want to change leader unless serious health issues happen.

If Farage joined the Tories and they did this, would everyone be happy?

The problem is there aren't any entry level jobs available even for graduates. If you want to get a lot of people who haven't worked in years and who have health issues back into work you need to magic up something for them to do and someone to pay them or you just end up with them costing more via NHS than they would staying at home.

Don’t give them ideas!!

You can see it coming though, right? Nothing to stop it, apparently.
It also makes me uneasy that the party had years to pick a leader and Burnham was there alongside Starmer, yet apparently they didn't realise how boring he was until he was elected. The whole country could see he was boring and still voted for him. Why do we now have to get the Labour reject no one who knew him ever wanted as PM for 2 decades prior?

Badenoch has made it her hill to die on that she wouldn’t do it.

@Wipeywipey it’s an interesting contradiction, isn’t it? We elect the individual MP so if he/she defects to another party, that’s not cause for a by election. And yet because the PM is the leader of the party with a majority, that party can change the individual in charge, also without cause for an election.

On balance, if I had to pick one, it would be by elections after defections (elected party matters more than individual) over elections post a change of leader (elected individual matters more than party)

Ha ha ha ha ! You're surely not putting half baked , biased The Guardian as proof.

You are! What a laugh! You know they kiss his arse and would do and have done if he was, at that moment, shitting out of it!