Prospective UK PM Burnham rules out early general election

LONDON: Andy Burnham, Britain’s likely next prime minister, on Friday ruled out calling a general election if he succeeds Keir Starmer, pledging to stick to the ruling party’s most recent manifesto.

Burnham – currently the only candidate to replace Starmer, who resigned as Labour leader and prime minister last month – is poised to take charge of the centre-left party and country later this month.

Participating in an “Ask Me Anything” session on the social media site Reddit, the ex-Greater Manchester mayor fielded questions ranging from electoral reform to foreign policy.

On the war in Ukraine, Burnham said he would “100%” give the country the same level of support as Starmer, who, like his Conservative predecessors, has been a staunch ally of Kyiv.

Veteran Labour figure Burnham also suggested he wanted to continue efforts to broker closer EU ties.

Quizzed about holding an immediate general election – the next poll is not due until 2029 – Burnham replied “no” and insisted he will “work to the 2024 manifesto”.

He was referring to Labour’s 136-page agenda summary at the last general election in 2024, when the party won a parliamentary landslide.

Featuring Starmer on its cover, it detailed an array of policy proposals, some of which have already been enacted.

Several of the headline commitments were around fiscal rules, with Labour vowing not to increase workers’ income tax, national insurance or VAT rates.

That has been seen as limiting Burnham’s ability to make major tax-and-spend changes.

However, in his first media interview since Starmer’s June 22 resignation announcement, the veteran Labour figure told LBC radio Thursday the manifesto offered some flexibility to potentially increase taxes on warehouses.

That could help fund more support for high street businesses such as pubs, he said, without providing further details.

Meanwhile in Friday’s Reddit session, Burnham indicated he still backs reforming Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system, which has historically benefited the country’s traditional two main parties.

However, with voters’ support increasingly fragmenting and at least five parties typically polling in double figures nationally, calls have grown for a more proportional system.

“I am a strong supporter of electoral reform, partly because I believe it will enable the change to a more collaborative politics and one that is less about point-scoring and more about problem-solving,” Burnham said.

“I will seek to persuade my own party of the need for a manifesto commitment to it in the next manifesto.”