Burnham claims he is ‘completely committed’ to his Greater Manchester mayoral job – UK politics live | Politics
Burnham claims he is ‘completely committed’ to his Greater Manchester mayoral job
Q: What would you do if an MP offered to make a parliamentary seat available to you?
Burnham said he would not answer a hypothetical question.
He went back to his point about wanting to see a plan for the government, and about that mattering more than personalities.
Q: But if Keir Starmer read your comments, he would feel miffed. He would think you were undermining him. What do you say to that?
Burnham said he would say only a few days ago he was working “hard behind the scenes to land the Hillsborough law”, to get the plans in a form that would be acceptable to the families.
He said people do not feel the government is on their side.
That is what the party needs to do, “before you talk about any personality”.
Q: What would you say to people in Manchester who say you are not focused on the city any more?
Burnham said he would say he is here.
I would say to [callers to the programme] I’m here because I’m focused on here, and I’m about to take all of your calls, as I did last week.
And I am working, as I’ve always done, in dealing with the issues that affect people here. And I think that commitment I make to this programme is proof of that.
And I love everything about this job. I love what’s happening here in Greater Manchester. I’m completely committed to it.
Key events
Burnham criticises media for not challenging Reform UK over ‘false promises’ that made about immigration during Brexit
In his BBC Radio Manchester phone-in Andy Burnham also attacked Reform UK over Brexit. He said:
The people who lead Reform are the leading voices that said Brexit would solve everything when it comes to immigration.
They made that promise to the country, didn’t they? They stood there and they said that, as well as it would save X amount of money for the NHS.
So here we are 10 years on and I would say immigration control is weaker because of what they proposed, the false promises they made 10 years ago at that referendum.
They weakened immigration control because they weakened our collaboration with the rest of Europe.
And what they actually did was they replaced the type of immigration we had from Europe, which was more short-term immigration, with a different type of of long term immigration.
So when are they actually … going to accept some responsibility for the situation that they have created?
Burnham also criticised the media for not challenging Reform UK over this.
I don’t see the media holding Reform, its leadership, to account on those issues. I don’t hear the challenge being made to Mr Farage and Mr Tice when they come on and put these big things out around immigration, that would actually cause quite a lot of concern to a lot of British families. Where is the challenge back to them?
Burnham condemns Reform UK’s plan to end indefinite leave to remain
Asked what he thought of the Reform UK plan to end indefinite leave to remain, Burnham said that he did not think these plans were fair to people who have been living in the UK for a long time. His wife was from Holland, he said.
He said he did not think Reform had thought this through.
He went on:
Do they really think it’s it’s fair to deny rights to people who’ve been here a long time, who were settled here, and who have paid taxes for many, for many years?
I think that’s starting to take Britain to a different place, to be honest, to the place we’ve been before.
Burnham says Home Office spending on taxis for asylum seekers as revealed by BBC not acceptable
Sweeney asked Burnham about the revelation from a BBC investigation this week that the Home Office is spending large sums on taxis for asylum seekers. In one case, the Home Office spent £600 on a 250-mile taxi journey for an asylum seeker visiting a GP where they were previously staying.
Burnham said he had not seen the BBC report. But, when it was explained to him, he said this was wrong. He said:
I don’t consider that acceptable because that isn’t obviously what’s available to to everybody else. And I don’t understand why that would be done.
The next question for Andy Burnham came from a woman with a complaint about a change to the bus route she uses for work. Burnham responde sympathetically and knowledgeably. In his New Statesman interview published yesterday, Tom McTague described Burnham taking part in one of these weekly radio shows. His description sums up well what we are hearing today.
Burnham faces a few questions from the presenter about his political ambitions, but for almost every caller, the main issues are much more prosaic: closed bus routes and disabled parking, new train stations and Right to Buy. I picture a medieval king receiving petitions from his people.
Burnham says it’s ‘disappointing’ that proposed new Manchester-Liverpool rail line being delayed
Sweeney asked about Northern Powerhouse Rail, and reports it is being shelved again.
Burnham said these reports were “disappointing”.
He said he thought Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, wanted the north to deliver on its ambitions.
But he said it felt as if projects in the south get priority.
It feels always that projects in the southern half the country are green lighted but often red lighted up here.
He said people in the north should not have to accept second or third-class infrastructure. They should get services like the Elizabeth line, he said.
The next caller is called Chris.
Q: If you become Labour leader, it will be a poisoned chalice. The party seems to be split. If I were you, I would stick where you are. But I would love to see you as Labour leader?
Burnham thanks Chris. He repeated the point about how he was just giving an honest answer to the Telegraph.
He said the priority was for the party to get a proper plan. The stakes were high, he said.
Sweeney is now posing questions from listeners.
Q: Are you distracted from sorting out the bus strike in Manchester?
Burnham said the bus services had improved a lot in Manchester.
He said he was “sympathetic” to the drivers.
But what they were asking for was “quite significantly above what’s been agreed elsewhere”.
Burnham says he will support Labour ‘in whatever way I can’
Burnham said he could not ignore what was happening in Westminster.
But ultimately it was for MPs to decide what happens to the party, he said.
He added:
I’m here to support the party in whatever way I can.
Burnham claims he is ‘completely committed’ to his Greater Manchester mayoral job
Q: What would you do if an MP offered to make a parliamentary seat available to you?
Burnham said he would not answer a hypothetical question.
He went back to his point about wanting to see a plan for the government, and about that mattering more than personalities.
Q: But if Keir Starmer read your comments, he would feel miffed. He would think you were undermining him. What do you say to that?
Burnham said he would say only a few days ago he was working “hard behind the scenes to land the Hillsborough law”, to get the plans in a form that would be acceptable to the families.
He said people do not feel the government is on their side.
That is what the party needs to do, “before you talk about any personality”.
Q: What would you say to people in Manchester who say you are not focused on the city any more?
Burnham said he would say he is here.
I would say to [callers to the programme] I’m here because I’m focused on here, and I’m about to take all of your calls, as I did last week.
And I am working, as I’ve always done, in dealing with the issues that affect people here. And I think that commitment I make to this programme is proof of that.
And I love everything about this job. I love what’s happening here in Greater Manchester. I’m completely committed to it.
Burnham defends leadership comments to Telegraph, saying he ‘gave an honest answer’
Mike Sweeney started his Radio Manchester interview by asking if Burnham was campaigning to replace Keir Starmer.
Burnham said, when he left Westminster, he “took a vow not to speak in code”.
He was asked a question, and gave an honest answer.
But he also said it was not up to him; the leadership was a matter for MPs in parliament, he said.
And he said he told the Telegraph it was not about personalities; it was about having a proper plan for the country.
He said he did tell the Telegraph that he was ready to support the PM in getting that plan together.
He said again he “gave an honest answer”. Sometimes it feels the Westminster world cannot deal with that, he said.
Andy Burnham is being interviewed by Mike Sweeney on BBC Radio Manchester now. You can listen here.
Reed calls Burnham ‘regional politician’ as he says Starmer has seen off people taking ‘pot shots’ at him before
Here are some more quotes from the Steve Reed interviews this morning where the housing secretary suggested Andy Burnham should stick to his day job. Reed was one of the Labour MPs backing Keir Starmer as a future leader well before the 2019 general election because they were appalled by Corbynism, and this group are not fans of Burnham, not least because they think by botching his own leadership bid in 2015 he let Jeremy Corbyn take over the party.
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Reed described Burnham as “regional politician”. In an interview with BBC Breakfast, asked to respond to the Burnham policy ideas (see 9.57am), Reed said:
[Burnham] is entitled, as a leading regional politician to make his case and I think he’s doing a fantastic job as mayor of Manchester.
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He said Keir Starmer had seen off people taking “pot shots” at him before. When it was put to him that Burnham was not just setting out ideas, Reed said:
People have taken potshots at Keir Starmer before. As I said, when it happened in opposition, he picked this party up off the floor and he led us through a record breaking general election victory.
Burnham calls for council tax rebanding, so expensive homes pay more, and possible revival of 50p tax rate for top earners
In his New Statesman interview published yesterday Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, set out some of the policy ideas he thought the government should be adopting.
Here are some more that he floated in his Telegraph interview.
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Council tax rebanding, so that people living in the largest homes pay more. There is widespread agreement that the current system is overly-generous to people living in the most valuable homes, because they pay much less council tax as a share of the property’s value. Burnham said there was a “huge underpayment of tax that should now be corrected”. He explained:
If you look at London, I think there are people in homes that are even in double-figure millions paying less council tax than people [in Manchester]. It’s just not justifiable … where something is like that, it needs fixing.
The Economist recently published an article with this chart making Burnham’s point.
I would urge the chancellor to consider a tax change at the other end. The 10p tax, I think, was actually one of the really innovative and quite interesting things that the Labour government did.
Steve Reed says Andy Burnham should stick to his Manchester job as mayor revives speculation about leadership bid
Good morning. The Labour party conference starts on Sunday and today Keir Starmer is making what is in effect the first important conference policy offer: levelling-up style plans to “revitalise” run-down high streets.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published some of the details in a news release. Kiran Stacey has a fuller run-down in the Guardian’s splash.
And Starmer will be speaking about these proposals in a series of regional TV interviews that will “drop” (journo-speak for be broadcast or published, when the embargo is lifted) at 6pm tonight.
But there is another Labour policy offer on the table today.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, gave an interview to the New Statesman published yesterday in which he said the country needed “wholesale change”. Today the Daily Telegraph has published another Burnham interview and, as Eleni Courea reports, in its he says Labour MPs are urging him to challenge the prime minister.
The last time the Telegraph talked up the prospects of a metro mayor with ambitions for higher office, we ended up with Boris Johnson as prime minister. It is entirely possible – perhaps even likely – that the Burnham leadership challenge will never materialise. But there is some substance to it; it is more than just three excitable, anonymous MPs and journalists out to flame up a story.
Steve Reed, the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, has been giving media interviews this morning. He has been talking about the plan to revive high streets but he has had to respond to the latest Burnham comments too. He was tactful, but the message still came through; essentially, he was telling Burnham to get back in his box. This is what he told Times Radio
Andy is playing a great role already. He’s the mayor of Greater Manchester and he’s doing an incredible job there, if you look at what they’re doing on homelessness or what they’re doing working with local health services. He will keep doing that work, because that is the commitment he gave until the end of his term … He’s given a commitment. I’m sure he wouldn’t break it.
Burnham is one his third term as Greater Manchester mayor, and the next elections are not due until 2028. Reed was essentially telling him to stick to the day job until then.
I will post more on the Reed and Burnham interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Richard Tice, his deputy, have a meeting with the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey. Bailey agreed to meet them to discuss their proposal for the government to save billions by cutting the interest paid on QE deposits held by commercial lenders, but Farage and Tice also reportedly want to argue for an interest rate cut.
9.30am: The Ministry of Justice publishes figures on the court backlog in England and Wales. And the ONS is publishing figures on the extent of stalking.
Noon: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions from MSPs at Holyrood.
Afternoon: The Cabinet Office releases data about gifts and hospitality received by ministers and special advisers.
6pm: The BBC and ITV regional stations are due to broadcast interviews with Keir Starmer, recorded earlier in the day but embargoed until 6pm.
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