Andy Burnham says ‘I want new era to be about hope’

Mr Burnham, who was released to Westminster last month for the Makerfield constituency, is widely expected to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister within a matter of weeks.

The former Greater Manchester Mayor has posted on professional networking social media site LinkedIn saying that he hopes to replicate his approach with the city region across the country.

Mr Burnham said: “To introduce myself here, I wanted to talk about how I left Westminster a decade ago because I wanted to build a politics that put problem-solving before point-scoring.

“And it worked.

Andy Burnham was recently elected MP for Makerfield (Image: Newsquest)

“In that time, I’m proud to have championed Greater Manchester’s economic revival, seeing it grow at twice the rate of the rest of the country.

“We made this happen by putting place before party, by bringing people with us, and crucially, working in partnership with business.

“The growth we created wasn’t abstract.

“It was felt by ordinary people and businesses every day, on their high streets and in their pockets.

“But everything we achieved during my time there felt like it was done despite Westminster, not because of it.

“Politics hasn’t been good enough—across the country people have struggled to make ends meet, businesses have struggled to stay open.

“Westminster hasn’t given them the support they need. That needs to change.

“I want to do things differently, to put power back in the hands of local communities and build an economy that works for everybody.

“Problem-solving, not point-scoring. Place-first, not party-first.

“Long-term thinking over short-term politics. I want this new era to be about hope.”

Mr Burnham has previously been Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 before stepping down after being elected as MP for Makerfield.

He won the Makerfield by-election with just under 55 per cent of the vote, around 20 per cent ahead of Reform UK’s Rob Kenyon in second place.

Sir Keir Starmer announced the following Monday that he would be stepping down as leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister.