Keir Starmer says he wants to offer Burnham ‘big role’ in government to avoid leadership contest – UK politics live
Overview
Former health secretary Wes Streeting also threatened to launch a leadership contest if the prime minister did not set out a timetable to step down
Speaking to reporters at the G7 summit, Keir Starmer said it would be wrong for Labour to hold a leadership challenge ahead of a likely election to replace Andy Burnham as mayor of Greater Manchester.
If Burnham wins the byelection tomorrow (as all the constituency polls suggest he will), he will resign his mayoral job and there will be an election to replace him. It would probably take place on Thursday 30 July. Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester city council, is tipped to be Labour’s candidate. Burnham won easily in the last mayoral election two years ago, but he is personally very popular in the north-west in a way that Craig isn’t. Reform UK trounced Labour in the local elections in May, and holding the mayoralty will be a tough challenge for the party.
First and foremost, I want Andy Burnham to win, and that’s why I’ve encouraged activists and members to go up there during the course of the campaign, and they’ll be up there tomorrow helping to get the vote out.
Then what happens is we’re immediately tipped into a Manchester mayoral contest byelection, one of the biggest byelections that we’ve ever fought, because of the scale of it.
If there is a challenge, then I intend to fight.
Details
I’m not going to walk away from that, and I’ve been clear and consistent about that.
We can’t go on with this uncertainty. I think we will inevitably end up in a contest.
I’ve given you my answer.
Well, I’m sure I’ll talk to Andy after the weekend, of course I will. I’ve spoken to him many times in recent weeks. And when I came into politics in 2015, it was Andy Burnham’s team that I joined, and we worked very well together.
He’s a huge asset, he’s been a fantastic mayor in Manchester and if he comes back into parliament – I hope he wins in the byelection – he’ll be a fantastic asset for our party and for the country.
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Originally published at www.theguardian.com.