Volodymyr Zelensky has denied taking cocaine with French president Emmanuel Macron in a bizarre interview with an American far-right MAGA influencer.

Laura Loomer, a close ally of Donald Trump and an ardent conspiracy theorist, travelled to meet the Ukrainian president and witness the impact of the war in Kyiv, after spending the last three years downplaying Russia’s invasion.

Ms Loomer, who has two million followers on X, had previously labelled Ukraine a “country full of Nazi apologists” and had claimed that they were being led “by a Jihadi apologist”.

However, the hardline right-wing activist has changed her stance in recent months and met with Mr Zelensky at the Marrinsky Palace, telling him: “I’ve come to realise that I was bamboozled by Russian propaganda and I came to believe a lot of untrue things about Ukraine.”

Rumours about Mr Zelensky taking Class A drugs with Mr Macron were amplified by Tucker Carlson, a fellow figure on America’s right who carried out a sit-down interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2024.

When asked about the story, the Ukrainian leader laughed and replied: “Of course not”.

Ms Loomer’s shifting position on the war in Europe reflects the growing impatience among the Trump administration and Washington over Moscow’s actions and their lack of readiness to negotiate a peace deal.

In response to Russian propaganda of Nazism in his country, Mr Zelensky explained the history of Soviet persecution of Judaism in Ukraine and stressed: “We are not Nazis”.

He also said that he is due to visit Washington next week for the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, and is expecting to see Mr Trump.

The relationship between the two leaders has been fraught with tension over the years, resulting in a shouting match in the Oval Office where Mr Zelensky was criticised for not wearing a suit.

However, he told Ms Loomer that now the relationship is “better and really good” since they met in the Vatican last year.

The pair spoke for around 15 minutes inside St Peter’s Basilica ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis.

“The tone has changed, absolutely,” he told Ms Loomer in response to a question about the shift in dynamic. “We had [a] first changing moment in Rome. It was not a long meeting but I always said it was this historic moment because we changed the relations during 15 to 20 minutes.

“Nobody was around us and I was very happy to hear the president. Let it be between the two of us but it was very good when we calmed down. I was very happy because a lot of life depends on relations.”

As well as speaking to Mr Zelensky, the MAGA influencer also travelled around the city, which included visiting a McDonald’s scarred by shrapnel from a Russian missile strike.

In a video recorded from inside a church, Loomer accused Mr Putin of hypocrisy by portraying Russia as pro-Christian.

“I just don’t think that you should be allowed to say that you’re protecting Christianity if you’re trying to drone strike Jesus Christ,” she said.

Around 141,000 have been evacuated from their homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in south-west France as a large wildfire ravaged swathes of land, the French interior ministry said.

Speaking to French TV channel Tf1, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has swept across 140 square kilometres, with 110,000 people fleeing their homes in the Gironde region, and is now heading towards the city of Bordeaux.

“We learned in the middle of the afternoon that, following the wind shift, it had become a large, self-sustaining fire that is extremely difficult to bring under control,” he said.

“It is now moving east, toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area. We are going to reorganise our response so we can fight it from the ground and prevent it from advancing toward Bordeaux.”

Burlesque The Musical, inspired by the 2010 movie starring Christina Aguilera and Cher, was originally scheduled to begin its UK tour in Woking, Surrey, before heading to London’s West End in September.

However, in a turn of events, producers have announced a change of plans due to what they described as “final technical preparations.”

The tour will now launch at Sunderland Empire on 6 August with the Woking dates rescheduled to November 3 to 7.

The schedule changes follow reports regarding the production’s physical sets not being delivered to the Woking venue ahead of the planned opening.

Producers said: “Audiences holding tickets for the original performances will be contacted by their point of sale regarding exchanges or refunds.”

The show’s West End debut has also been postponed until 2027.

On Instagram, the official Burlesque The Musical account said: “All ticket holders will be contacted by The Arts at Marble Arch regarding a full refund.

“We can’t wait to welcome audiences to our Burlesque lounge across the UK from August.

“Unfortunately, this was out of our hands.

“We know you love the show and we love you right back.

“Thank you for all your continued support.”

Producers stressed that the London delay is “absolutely a postponement, not a cancellation.”

They said: “We are already exploring opportunities for a major London return in 2027 and look forward to announcing our future West End home in due course.

“This is a strategic decision designed to ensure the production returns to London exactly as we want it to… With all the fabulosity, concert-like experiential quality and razzle-dazzle that our audiences deserve.”

They also noted that the tour remains “fully financed and on a secure footing.”

Burlesque The Musical is produced by a team including Steven Antin, the writer and director of the original film, alongside Adam Paulden, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Clint Culpepper, and In Fine Company.

Christina Aguilera also serves as a producer.

Set in Los Angeles, Burlesque tells the story of Ali, a small-town girl who rises to stardom in a struggling underground club.

The original film featured a star-studded cast including Aguilera, Cher, Stanley Tucci, and Kristen Bell.

Brits eat around 167 million portions of fish and chips a year, and that is not counting the other dishes people use fish for when they are at home.

However, you do not want to be wasting money on fish that is not fresh, especially if it is an expensive type of fish.

While you can find some great fish in the supermarkets and at fishmongers, sometimes it might not be as fresh as it looks, but there are ways to check before.

There is an easy way to check if supermarket fish is fresh. (Image: Getty)

How to spot if fish is not fresh while in the supermarket

You might think it is normal for fish to have a strong smell in the supermarket, but a seafood expert says the best quality fish should only have a mild scent.

Julian Klenda from Marine Lobster Now said: “Never assume fish is fresh simply because the colour looks right or the packaging is intact.

“If you are buying from a fish counter, ask to smell it.

“Fresh fish should smell mild and clean, perhaps slightly like the sea, but it should not hit you with a strong fishy, sour, or ammonia-like odour.

“That familiar ‘fishy’ smell is not something shoppers should expect from genuinely fresh fish.

“If the smell makes you pull away, trust that reaction and choose something else.”

As fish gets worse, it will develop an increasingly strong and unpleasant smell but will still look fine on the outside.

If you can smell sourness, rancid notes, or an ammonia-like smell, you should avoid buying the fish.

You should check the fish is properly sealed and within its use-by date.

You can also check the condition of the packaging and look closely at the fish for any excess liquid, discolouration, or if it is drying out.

Julian added: “Smell is the fastest check when you have access to the fish, but it should not be the only one.

“Fresh fillets should generally look moist and have firm flesh rather than appearing dry, dull, or mushy.

“If you are buying a whole fish, look for clear, bright eyes and red gills rather than cloudy eyes or brownish gills.

“For shellfish meat such as lobster, scallops, or prawns, look for a clear, pearl-like appearance and little to no odour.

“Any combination of a strong smell, unusual colour, and soft texture should be treated as a warning.”

Will you be using this trick to check fish next time you go shopping? Let us know in the comments.

European wildfires threatening Madrid and French resorts have become impossible to control in some areas as hundreds of thousands, including British holidaymakers, are forced from their homes. 

Large forest fires have become ‘out of control’ in southwestern France and central Spain today, sparking an evacuation of an estimated 200,000 people from their homes. 

The fire in Madrid is said to put at risk a NASA and ESA communications complex, one of three comprising a network studying deep space.

About 141,000 people fled their homes in Gironde and Landes in France, while 60,000 were forced to evacuate their houses in Spain, the countries’ respective Interior ministries confirmed. 

Dozens of firefighters have been injured but no deaths have been reported in either country, authorities have said. 

Meanwhile, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, Carlos Novillo, said the blaze near the Spanish capital was ‘at its peak’ and was beyond capacity for firefighters to tame. 

The inferno is currently making its way towards the municipalities of Fresnedillas de la Oliva and Robledo de Chavela, just several dozen kilometres from the outskirts of the city. 

‘It is not possible to attack the fire in that area, so defensive measures are being taken,’ Mr Novillo told the BBC. 

Exactly 25,000 people have been evacuated from the region, while 20,000 more have been placed in lockdown, Madrid officials have said. 

An alert message had been issued to those in Aldea del Fresno, a town west of Madrid, ordering them to leave, emergency services said. It is the first time such a measure has been taken due to a wildfire. 

Plumes of smoke near the NASA and ESA communications complex in Robledo de Chavela, near Madrid

Firefighters battle a wildfire in Cebreros area, near Avila, 80km west of Madrid on July 24, 2026

A firefighter helicopter dumps water on a wildfire in Cebreros area, near Avila, 80km west of Madrid on July 24, 2026

A person runs as the fire spreads in the mountains of Navaluenga, Avila, on July 23, 2026

Advertisement

David Gonzalez who owns a Martial Arts gym for young people try to extinguish a fire outside his home in Avila 

Firefighters battle a wildfire in the Cebreros region as several wildfires have burnt out of control

The last time Spain declared the same level of emergency alert was during a massive nationwide power blackout last year.  

Meanwhile, tens of thousands have fled from a millionaire’s holiday paradise in France with British tourists caught up in an ‘apocalyptic’ wildfire. 

Mass evacuations have been taking place throughout the day – including by boat – from Cap Ferret in southwestern France, where wildfires have burnt through thousands of hectares of forest and destroyed luxury villas.

Spain’s government has declared a national emergency amid the wildfires for the first time as the inferno in Madrid and the nearby province of Avila sparked mass evacuations. 

Two major blazes near Madrid combined into one single inferno, which quickly burned through 11.5 square miles of land by Friday afternoon. 

A fire in Avila, less than two hours north-west of Madrid, tore through 34 square miles, causing 1,500 people to flee. 

It comes as the fires are being fanned by a heatwave with temperatures expected to hit highs of 39C (102F) in parts of Spain. 

Spain’s Civil Guard has arrested one man and is investigating another for allegedly having used heavy machinery in an area where it was prohibited for fire risk. 

Regional President Isabel Díaz Ayuso branded the fires as the worst in Madrid’s history.

Meanwhile, Francisco Martin, the central government representative for the region of Madrid, said more evacuations could be on the horizon. 

A couple sit on the beach of Moutchic in Lacanau, southwestern France, on July 24, 2026

Residents watch the flames on hill crests as firefighters battle a wildfire in the Cebreros area, near Avila, Madrid

A firefighter sprays water on a scorched field, surrounded by burnt trees, following a wildfire in Cotignac, southeastern France

A firefighter suffers an open fracture after a gas cylinder explodes as the Saumos forest fire reaches a house on the outskirts of Lege-Cap-Ferret, Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, on July 23

Advertisement

Wildfires advance near the Le Proge region, western France, on Thursday 

He said the priority was now to protect the town of San Lorenzo, the home of the Escorial, Philip II’s 16th-century royal palace and monastery. 

Francisco Martínez, the mayor of Burgohondo whose residents were evacuated, said: ‘In my 60 years I have never seen something like this in my village, I have never seen fire of these dimensions.

Footage taken by Spanish broadcasters showed residents retreating as sky-high flames with plumes of smoke barrelled through the woods and scrublands. 

High winds and hilly terrain complicated efforts by firefighters, who combated the blazes with fire engines and bulldozers.

‘All around the town was smoke and fire, I was scared. Everything was fire and smoke, people were nervous,’ Joaquin Espinosa, 33, said. 

He and his neighbours were evacuated from the village of Chapineria, located less than an hour away from Madrid.

It comes as Spain has had the worst fires on record for both the regions of Castilla-La Mancha as well as Madrid in just one week. 

Firefighters were still battling Spain’s second biggest ever fire in Castilla-La Mancha province over the last week. 

Thirteen people were also killed in a fire in southern Spain earlier this month, the deadliest fire in recent memory for Spain.

On Friday morning, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said ‘Spain and neighbouring countries’ were experiencing a ‘dramatic situation’ due to the massive fires that spread simultaneously across western Europe. 

‘The forest fires are ravaging thousands of hectares and affecting numerous towns and villages,’ the Spanish leader wrote on X on Friday.  He also urged Spaniards to ‘follow the instructions’ of officials. 

‘Climate change is what kills, what destroys our villages and our natural and cultural heritage,’ civil protection chief Virginia Barcones told Spanish radio.

She warned some fires become so intense that, despite the deployment of aircraft and ground crews, firefighters stand ‘no chance’.

Ms Barcones said conditions at the Guadalajara blaze were improving but that strong winds and extreme heat remained a danger.

Eighteen firefighting units with specialist troops were working to contain the blaze near the city of Toledo, close to another wildfire that forced the evacuation of several villages on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in southwestern France, distressed tourists are anxiously fleeing the beloved getaway either on boats or by the only road linking the area with the mainland.

An estimated 92,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, while in southwestern France further evacuations of around 67,000 residents further south were ordered after a separate wildfire broke out.  

Pictured: The remains of a property in Lege-Cap-Ferret after a fire tore through the outskirts of the French commune

A fast-moving wildfire reaches the outskirts of Lege-Cap-Ferret after worsening weather conditions fuel its rapid spread

Advertisement

‘It’s quite impressive and even frightening,’ said Laurent Moretti, an Ares town resident. ‘An evacuation on this scale has never happened before. All we really hope is that the firefighters can quickly get it under control.’

More than 20,000 people had already been evacuated from towns and vacation resorts on Thursday. The new evacuations were carried out by road, with boat shuttles provided for people who could not travel by their own means.

Local authorities in the Gironde department said 53 homes and a campsite have been engulfed by the flames, adding that 42 firefighters were injured.

Around 1,500 people who fled the peninsula arrived by sea in the city of Arcachon, some aboard small water taxis and others on larger boats.

Ross Fitzsimmons and his wife Natasha from Hampton, south-west London were forced to leave their holiday villa in the village of Claouey on Thursday, when forest fires surged towards them.

Mr Fitzsimmons, 70, who runs a bespoke framing business, arrived last Saturday with his wife and their two children, and had originally planned to stay for a week but instead, was forced to drive to Bordeaux.

‘It’s absolutely heartbreaking because the whole Cap Ferret peninsula is such a special place, the smell of the pine, the pristine beaches,’ he said. 

‘The pretty villages by the bay, but to see the forests being destroyed by a wildfire 19 times larger than Richmond Park is devastating.

‘The region is nicknamed the Hamptons of France but it doesn’t do it justice, as it’s far less pretentious and much more beautiful.’

Mr Fitzsimmons described how he could see the blaze around 12 miles away on Wednesday night from his local beach.

‘At that point we weren’t concerned all that much because we were here in 2022, and they had wildfires then. [They] had dug trenches and built fire breaks to help contain future outbreaks,’ he said.

‘But by the following morning, smoke had replaced the clouds and ash was falling from the sky as we ate breakfast. We were getting increasingly nervous.

‘It was clear that the fire was spreading and that we probably needed to move fast as there’s only one main road in and out of the peninsula, which was obviously going to close if the fire got worse.’

As the family was anxiously packing, they heard an official on a megaphone ‘driving around the village’, warning people to evacuate. 

‘We got out about 4pm yesterday in our hire cars and the whole village was deserted. All the shops were closed and there was hardly a soul around. We’d hired bikes but the hire shop was shut so we left them chained up outside,’ Mr Fitzsimmons said.

‘There were gendarmes and other emergency workers lining much of the road out of the peninsula, it was eerie.’

The fires, which began on Tuesday in Saumos, Gironde, have burned for days, with 10,000 hectares (almost 25,000 acres) of land being consumed by the flames. 

A 90-minute drive from Bordeaux, the string of fishing villages is a popular destination for Paris’s elite, often compared to the Hamptons in America.

French residents have described the inferno ravaging parts of the country as ‘mega-fire’ and ‘apocalyptic’.

French President Emmanuel Macron has requested urgent help from the European Union as the country’s growing battle against wildfires intensifies. 

‘It breaks my heart. Because it’s such a pleasant place to live, seeing it go up in smoke is truly sad,’ said family caregiver Corinne Paillaube.

‘It’s totally apocalyptic,’ said Ambre Dubos, from the nearby Landes region.

People are being told to leave via the main D106 road towards Bordeaux while vessels were being made available for others between 7am and 10am local time (6am BST and 9am BST) from four piers

The Cap Ferret peninsula has a year-round population of just under 8,000 but that can swell by ten times in peak summer season

Advertisement

People in Lege-Cap-Ferret watch as flames tear through a forest 

Luxury homes are erupting in flames as desperate tourists flee down a single road off the ‘French Hamptons’ peninsula amid gigantic wildfires

A bulldozer works to make a firewall as firefighters battle a wildfire in Cebreros area, near Avila, west of Madrid 

‘France has requested the activation of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism. 

‘We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,’ wrote Mr Macron on X on Friday.

Further down the Atlantic coast, around the town of Biscarrosse in France’s Landes region, another major blaze that began on Thursday afternoon has triggered the evacuations of more than 23,000 people. 

Sophie Brocas, the prefect for the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, ordered the ‘final phase’ of the peninsula evacuation early on Friday morning.

People are being told to leave via the main D106 road towards Bordeaux while vessels were being made available for others between 7am and 10am local time (6am BST and 9am BST) from four piers. 

Aircraft from Croatia, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are on their way to assist in the emergency, which the local prefect has described as an ‘XXL fire’.

Meanwhile, thousands of emergency workers in Italy battled scores of fires in Sicily and in the Calabria region, where a local official said arsonists had started fires by tying rags soaked in flammable liquid to the tails of stray cats to spread the flames.

Along with the stray cats, investigators found candles and delayed ignition devices.

Domenico Costarella, of Calabria’s civil protection agency, said: ‘These animals were released into the fields, running around and spreading the fire.’

EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib said Thursday that the bloc was providing three water-bombing planes to France. 

In an 18 month period 77 children under the age of 16 were treated at a Belfast hospital for e-scooter injuries

An MP is calling for urgent action on the illegal use of scramblers, e-bikes, and e-scooters stating what was once a nuisance has now escalated into a public safety crisis.

Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard has written to Justice Minister Naomi Long demanding urgent action on the illegal and anti-social use of such vehicles.

He was responding to the recent Children’s Health Ireland report which revealed that there have been 1,130 emergency department attendances linked to e-scooter injuries between January 2021 and August 2025, alongside a 50% rise in children admitted with traumatic brain injuries in the last year alone.

Locally, 77 children under the age of 16 were treated at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children over an 18-month period between June 2024 and January 2026. As well as this, 59 serious ambulance call-outs were recorded in relation to such injuries over two years.

The South Down MP said: “What started as a simple nuisance is now a critical public safety crisis, and it needs to be treated like one.

“I’m hearing it directly from people right across South Down – parents who won’t let their kids play outside, older residents afraid to walk their own streets, and communities feeling terrorised in their own neighbourhoods. That is completely unacceptable.

“We have laws that simply aren’t being enforced, and that enforcement gap has allowed the situation to spiral out of control. These high-powered machines are being driven recklessly through housing estates and public parks.

“In the worst cases, they are being used by gangs to intimidate residents, distribute drugs, and openly evade the police. Working-class communities, in particular, have borne the brunt of this.

“I have written to the Justice Minister demanding a dedicated joint taskforce between the Department of Justice, the PSNI, and local Policing and Community Safety Partnerships (PCSPs). Furthermore, I am calling for police officers to be given clear legal authority, specialised training, and modern technology – including drone support – to safely seize these vehicles and take them off our streets.

“Communities deserve to feel safe where they live, and no one should have to think twice before stepping onto a footpath.”

Under the current law, e-scooters and most other small off-road motorised vehicles should never be used on public land anywhere in Northern Ireland. This means they cannot legally be used on public roads, in public parks or on pavements.

It is legal to own, buy, or sell an e-scooter however, they can only be used on private land and only if the landowner gives their permission.

Other lightweight vehicles such as scrambler bikes and quad bikes are also restricted to off-road use on privately-owned land.

Police can issue cautions, fines, report users to the PPS, and confiscate e-scooters being used in public places.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Emergency services were called to Almond Street after reports of concern for a man, who later died. A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.

A man has died after becoming unwell following an incident on a street in Grangemouth.

Emergency services were called to Almond Street at around 7.45pm on Thursday after reports of concern for a man.

Police Scotland said officers attended and engaged with the man before he became unwell.

He died a short time later.

The circumstances surrounding the death have not been disclosed.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police received reports of concern for a man in the Almond Street area of Grangemouth around 7.45pm on Thursday, 23 July, 2026.

“Officers attended and engaged with the man.

“The man subsequently became unwell, however died a short time later.

“A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.

During every visit to Coronation Street, somebody has the worst week of their lives. This week, it’s Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien), and next week’s not looking good for DS Lisa Connor-Swain (Vicky Myers), the woman who just arrested her for murder.

To think that Swarla were just getting back on track.

After Lisa was very nearly tricked into turning her back on her beloved Carla Connor-Swain (Alison King) by her bunny-boiling ex Becky Swain (Amy Cudden), the most shipped couple on the Cobbles finally got their happily ever after…

… then someone was bumped off on the day they got married.

Having the body of a murder victim turn up spitting distance away from your wedding venue does kill the vibe somewhat, even if the victim in question is domestic abuser and all round wrong’un, Theo Silverton (James Cartwright).

This kicked off a street-wide murder investigation which saw Lisa, with the aid of her less-than-upstanding fellow officer DC Kit Green (Jacob Roberts), haul six suspects in for questioning.

The investigation hit its fair share of dead ends, including the wrongful arrest of Summer Spellman (Harriet Bibby), not to mention Kit’s determination to put Gary Windass (Mikey North) behind bars for the crime – which we’re all sure has totally nothing to do with the fact that Gary was getting awfully cosy with Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien).

Who is, by the way, the real murderer.

That, as it turns out, explains all the hushed conversations between Gary and Sarah recently. Because she called him on the night of the murder, begging her bad-boy ex boyfriend to help dispose of the body.

But despite Kit’s best efforts to cover up Sarah’s involvement by trying to frame Gary, soap justice comes for us all and the Coronation Street legend was arrested by none other than Lisa herself.

Which would all be fine and dandy, except Lisa’s head isn’t exactly a hundred percent on the job right now. And for good reason.

Lisa’s daughter, Betsy Swain (Sydney Martin) has recently suffered a major stroke that left her unable to speak clearly when it was revealed that she had experimented with consensual strangulation during sex with her boyfriend Dylan Wilson (Liam McCheyne). Furious, Lisa blamed Dylan for her little girl’s condition and reported him to the police.

Needless to say, Lisa’s not in a forgiving mood right now.

We see this first hand in tonight’s episode of Coronation Street, when Sarah’s desperate insistence that she didn’t mean to kill Theo and didn’t involve Gary fall on deaf ears.

This is only reinforced later when Kit listens to a voicemail from Lisa, advising him to think very carefully about protecting Sarah. Gulp.

Given that Lisa’s family troubles seemed to have turned her into a slightly more scary Mancunian version of Judge Dredd, it’s probably not going to go down well when her wife decides to visit the woman she’s just sent down.

In next week’s trip to the Cobbles, Carla informs Lisa that she’s going to visit Sarah later, she’s not coping very well and her boy Harry is really struggling without her.  Lisa’s left troubled.

Will Lisa let Carla’s visit to Sarah go ahead?

MORE: A bleak end ‘confirmed’ for Sarah after 23 years as she prepares to say goodbye to Coronation Street

MORE: Test your Corrie, Emmerdale and EastEnders knowledge with Metro’s weekly Soaps quiz!

MORE: All over for Sarah in Coronation Street as staggering confessions and discoveries spell the end

Andy Burnham has ruled out calling a snap election after becoming Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade.

In an exclusive interview with the Manchester Evening News, Mr Burnham said he would stick to Labour’s 2024 manifesto. Holding a general election now, he added, would ‘postpone that essential work’.

He spoke after his first day at Number 10 North in Manchester city centre, and his first week as the leader of the UK.

The government HQ is at Heron House, in the same building as the intelligence agency GCHQ. Asked if he was going to call a general election, Mr Burnham said: “No I’m not. I don’t think that is right.

“We live in a parliamentary democracy. There was a manifesto in 2024. I’m sticking to that manifesto. I’m bringing forward my version but it is still within that manifesto. I just think that we need to focus on making the country work.

“That is the biggest priority right now. A general election would postpone that essential work. I’m also trying to do politics differently, as I did when I was mayor of Greater Manchester.”

Though he’s relishing his new role as PM, Mr Burnham says he misses being Greater Manchester mayor. Asked what he missed, he said: “All of it. All the elements of it, and you could probably tell that. It was lovely being back in the city today, I’ve not been back for a while. People were just great, as ever.”

After spending the day with colleagues at Heron House, Mr Burnham stepped outside for a moment to massive cheers. Waving to the crowd, he called out: “I love you Manchester!” before returning inside.

Mr Burnham is set on splitting his time between 10 Downing Street in London and its northern equivalent in Manchester. While some have said this will cost more, Mr Burnham insisted it will save money.

He added: “We all spend so much money going to London all the time, and that’s the way it’s always been. We all have to buy train tickets. We all have to go down to London. Now I can come and meet people from across the country in Manchester, it saves a lot of expense.

“Is it a gimmick? Well, the fact that I was there today with the Chancellor, the cabinet secretary, the First Secretary of State, the Transport Secretary – a large part of the government was there in Manchester with me today.

“And the fact of us being there, taking decisions there, just means that we’re rebalancing power in the country aren’t we? And the benefits that will fall to Manchester are massive. But it’s about No 10 North taking power out of Whitehall and putting it into all parts of the country. That’s its job.”

Mr Burnham said it was also about letting other areas of the country ‘go on the devolution journey that Manchester has been on’. The main priority of the northern HQ is to ‘rebalance power in Britain’, he said, adding: “People should not underestimate the scale of what we’re doing.”

After becoming leader, Mr Burnham said the days of Whitehall resisting devolution were ‘over for good’. “The good news is that the civil service is really strongly buying it,” added. “I think they realised that what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working as a country. We’re not where we should be.”

He said there was a ‘new generation of civil servants’ who believe power and investment need to be ‘fairly distributed’.

“Otherwise we end up where we are, which is a country that doesn’t feel contented,” he said. “People feel alienated, don’t they, frompolitics?”

The PM said voters felt decisions were made far from them and ‘they don’t think those decisions are made with the north inmind’.

He added: “I understand the cynicism, don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to say I don’t. But I hope to show people that it’s misplaced, that this brings some real benefits.”

Mr Burnham has made a series of policy announcements – mostly aimed at tackling the cost of living crisis – including capping bus fares; cutting business rates on pubs and music venues; and cutting VAT on domestic electricity bills.

Some, like the £2 bus fare, are costed. The detail around others is less clear. Mr Burnham said the scrapping of the digital ID scheme – estimated to be in the region of £1.8m over three years – would ‘help pay for new priorities’.

Advertisement

Mr Burnham has also pledged to end rough sleeping, which will cost £340m over five years. He vowed to eradicate it when he became mayor of the Greater Manchester. There were initially improvements, but data shows rough sleeping in the region is rising again.

How will he do something nationwide when he could not achieve that in the region?

“Well it’s a good question and a fair one,” he said. “And what I would say to that is, obviously, a Bed Every Night scheme still runs and rough sleeping is significantly down on where it was when I came in as mayor.

“But what I discovered was that we couldn’t do what I wanted to do when we were the only area doing what we were doing.”Mr Burnham also said that this meant people were travelling to Greater Manchester as it was the only region offering this support.

“All areas have to do it together,” he added. The Prime Minister also met with regional mayors at Heron House on Friday, telling them No 10 North was ‘at [their] service’ during a National Economic Council meeting.

Labour mayors Tracy Brabin and Steve Rotheram, as well as Reform UK’s Andrea Jenkyns were present.

After the meeting, Mr Rotheram told the Manchester Evening News all regional mayors at the table were ‘in union’, adding: “Over the next few weeks you’re going to get a better understanding of why we are so confident that this can deliver growth now.”

Asked for his response, Mr Burnham said: “Yeah, it was very positive. They felt that what we’re doing was the right thing and could actually help them do their jobs – that was very much the spirit of the meeting.

“The public would have found it refreshing if they could have sat there and heard it.”

A week is a lifetime in politics, as the old adage goes, and it certainly feels like a lifetime already for Mr Burnham.

“I love the job,” he insisted. He admitted the top role is ‘relentless in terms of the waves of things that come at you’.

He added: You can’t ever prepare for it because you can’t ever know what it’s like until you do it, but… I’m getting used to it very quickly because you have to. So I’m in at the deep end, but I’ve started swimming and I’ve enjoyed it so far.”

He said while the job is ‘challenging’ in many ways, making a difference to people’s lives was also ‘rewarding’. Next month, Mr Burnham will be doing a ‘listening tour’ of the UK to win over voters.

Asked about details, he said they had yet to be finalised, but it would include visiting all parts of the UK. Mr Burnham has twice bid for the Labour leadership – in 2010 and 2015 – and lost out.

Finally, this year, it was third time lucky for the new Makerfield MP. Does he feel it was worth the wait?

“It was worth it because I’m better now as a politician than I would have been,” he said. “Manchester made me. My time in Manchester… it gave me the ability to really find what I’m about and, you know, be confident in that and, you know, connect with people.

His time as mayor of Greater Manchester – from 2017 to 2026 – made him ‘stronger than I would have been,’ he said before adding: “It’s thanks to Manchester.”