Burnham insists he has ‘legitimacy to lead’, signalling no early election

Sophie Wingate, Press Association Deputy Political Editor

Andy Burnham insisted he had “the legitimacy to lead” as he appeared to rule out an early election after replacing Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street.

The new Prime Minister’s mid-term ascent to power has prompted calls for a general election from some, who argue he is lacking a mandate for his promise to oversee the biggest changes in politics in 40 years.

But Mr Burnham noted he had a constitutional mandate to govern as he would stick to Labour’s 2024 manifesto.

Asked when he would go to the country, the Labour leader told reporters on Monday: “We’re in a parliamentary democracy and, as we’ve seen through time, if somebody can command the majority of the MPs in the House of Commons, obviously they then have the legitimacy to lead things forward.

“And I will lead forward consistent with the manifesto, which also talked about change and I now want to work on the platform that Keir Starmer has left to deliver that change – a massive change in our politics.

“That’s what No 10 North is about: taking the power out of Westminster and Whitehall into every postcode in the land, and from there building a new economy.

“And that’s what I will talk about today.

“Putting the basics under stronger public control to make them affordable to people again, reindustrialising Britain using public procurement to back British industry.

“These are big changes. They are the biggest changes in 40 years. We’ve had 40 years of trickle-down economics, which hasn’t trickled down very much at all to many parts of Britain.

“You go up and down the country, you can see high streets in decline, communities that never recovered from the deindustrialisation of the 1980s, and this is what I’m about changing.”

Mr Burnham said he could make sweeping changes while honouring his party’s 2024 general election manifesto.

Pressed on whether he would go beyond the policies set out in the document, he said: “I will stick to the manifesto.

“I will be bold and I will be true to what it says.

“But there are big changes that I can implement coming from that manifesto. It is about a new political model. It is about a new economic model for the country.”

The former Greater Manchester mayor returned to Westminster as Makerfield MP last month and gained overwhelming support from Labour MPs to take over from Sir Keir as party leader after he announced his resignation.

He was officially declared Labour leader on Friday after a short contest in which he was the only candidate, having secured the backing of 379 of the party’s 403 MPs.

Pledges

His pledges include setting up a No 10 North in Manchester to drive his devolution agenda, overhaul the social care system, more public control and reindustrialisation.

And his first instruction as Prime Minister would be to “end rough sleeping in our country,” he said in his first speech in the job.

While he has vowed to keep to the manifesto pledge not to increase VAT, national insurance or income tax rates, he has hinted at cuts to personal taxes, expressing concerns over the five-year-long freeze in the £12,570 limit on how much can be earned before paying income tax.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on X: “Andy Burnham cannot be allowed to make the ‘biggest changes in politics for 40 years’ without a mandate.

“We need a general election now.”

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