Labour MPs are urging me to challenge Starmer – Andy Burnham

Andy Burnham has said MPs are urging him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership in an intervention likely to fuel speculation he could be seeking a return to Westminster.

The Manchester Mayor accused Downing Street of creating a “climate of fear” and said “wholesale change” was required to see off an “existential” threat to the ruling party.

And he set out his vision for how to “turn the country around”, including higher council tax on some homes in southern England and a 50p top rate of income tax, in interviews with the New Statesman and Telegraph.

Mr Burnham said there was a “huge underpayment of tax that should now be corrected” in London and the South East because the rates were based on property valuations from 1991.

In comments likely to heap further pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she seeks to balance the books ahead of the autumn budget, he told the Telegraph there was “definitely a case” for raising income tax later in this Parliament.

The Prime Minister has had a bruising few weeks in which two high-profile Government departures and sustained lag behind Reform UK in the polls sparked questions about his leadership.

Reset

Mr Burnham, who served in Gordon Brown’s government, insisted he is not plotting an immediate return to Westminster or wanting to step on the Government’s toes as it seeks a reset at the Labour Party conference.

But the senior Labour politician told the New Statesman that the gathering in Liverpool starting on Sunday must answer the question “where is our plan to turn the country around?”

“I’m going to put the question back to people at Labour conference: are we up for that wholesale change?

He said returning to “the old way of doing things in Westminster with minimal change” was an unattractive prospect, but that he was ready to “work with anybody who wants to… put in place a plan to turn the country around.”

“I’m happy to play any role. I am ready to play any role in that. Yes. Because the threat we’re facing is increasingly an existential one.”

‘Aspirational socialism’

Mr Burnham detailed his politics of “aspirational socialism” in comments likely to be seen as a pitch for a future leadership bid amid speculation he could be seeking a return to Westminster.

He called for more public control of housing, energy, water and rail, and to “get back to speaking to working-class ambition”.

He signalled a willingness to work with the Liberal Democrats and Jeremy Corbyn and told the Telegraph he believed Britain should introduce proportional representation to encourage co-operation within the “progressive majority”.

Asked if MPs had urged him to run for the top job, he said: “People have contacted me throughout the summer – yeah.

“I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened, but as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”

Mr Burnham told the New Statesman it would be a “wrench” to leave his current role and but repeatedly declined to rule out a tilt at the leadership as he set out what could be seen as a manifesto for change.

A Labour source said: “I’ve heard of a stalking horse, but this guy is going to get hoarse from his endless stalking.”

Deputy leader

The Mayor of Greater Manchester has thrown his weight behind former Commons leader Lucy Powell in the race to succeed Angela Rayner as Labour deputy leader following Ms Rayner’s resignation over her tax affairs.

He believes the Manchester Central MP’s victory would be key to weakening Downing Street’s grip on the party, according to The New Statesman.

Ms Powell has also been boosted by a £15,000 donation from green energy industrialist Dale Vince, who said: “I believe it’s right to go all the way and have a deputy leader that is not in the Government and thus less constrained by collective responsibility.”

Ms Powell has cast herself as the “independent choice” in the contest against Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson.

But Education Secretary Ms Phillipson on Wednesday rejected claims she is No 10’s choice, suggesting instead she had been the victim of sexist briefings.

She was asked whether she would welcome Mr Burnham, who was a Labour MP from 2001 until he quit Westminster in 2017, into the Commons as a potential leadership rival to the Prime Minister.

“Well, there isn’t a vacancy, so I’m not sure which job he’d be applying for,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He’s got a big job on his hands there in Manchester.”