Phillips said it feels like we’ve come to “the end of the road” for Starmer. She added that if Andy Burnham were to launch a leadership competition, he would have to prove he is the “unifier” his supporters say he is, beyond Makerfield and Greater Manchester.
- As a reminder, Burnham was elected MP for Makerfield this week – meaning he could, with enough support, launch a leadership contest. He would need 81 MPs backing him
Charters said he believes Burnham would follow Labour’s manifesto from the 2024 General Election – adding that the Makerfield by-election was almost like a “referendum” on the future of the Labour Party.
And Perkins called for “calm heads”, insisting that the government “isn’t actually doing so bad” as he pointed to shorter NHS waiting times, net migration and the asylum backlog.
