Jeremy Corbyn said Andy Burnham would be “accepting too much of the austerity that we’ve had imposed upon us” and “doesn’t appear to be doing anything different internationally.”
Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham speaks as he celebrates his victory in yesterday’s Makerfield by-election, at Ashton Town Football Club, on June 19, 2026 in Ashton in Makerfield, England.
(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Stephen Prager
Jun 20, 2026
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to announce as soon as Monday that he will resign, according to new reports, as Labour supporters abandon the party.
But many on the left remain skeptical that his likely replacement, Andy Burnham, will truly bring the “change” he promises.
Britain’s Observer newspaper reported on Saturday that the prime minister appeared “resigned” to stepping down, well aware that “support isn’t there” for his continued leadership amid the party’s dismal unpopularity.
Though Starmer swept away nearly a decade and a half of Conservative rule in 2024, his honeymoon has been short-lived. His embrace of austerity in the face of a cost-of-living crisis and his government’s ferocious crackdowns on pro-Palestinian speech have left progressive supporters seeking alternatives like the ascendant Green Party.
Meanwhile, his hard-right pivot on immigration has done little to siphon votes from Brexiteer Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party, which currently leads in national polls.
The immediate trigger for Starmer’s reported resignation was Burnham’s victory in Thursday’s Makerfield by-election, which marked the former mayor of Greater Manchester’s return to Westminster. Burnham comfortably defeated a Reform UK candidate, and The Guardian reported that he was expected to have support from about 200 Labour MPs in a leadership challenge against Starmer.
Burnham emphasized during a victory rally that it was “a last chance to change” Labour as it heads for electoral oblivion.
Responding to what he said were requests from constituents to “do something to make life more affordable,” Burnham called for an end to “trickle down economics,” with government interventions to bring down utility bills and rail fares, public procurement of businesses, pushes for reindustrialization, and job guarantees for people ages 16 to 18.
But some leaders on the British left have warned that Burnham will do little to deviate from Starmer’s failures.
While he has pledged to reverse Starmer’s welfare cuts and privatizations of public services, Burnham has also committed to maintaining the party’s spending limits, which may make significant changes impossible.
Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn, who led the Labour Party from 2015-20, said that while he personally likes Burnham, “his basic economic strategy and views... seem to me to be accepting too much of the austerity that we’ve had imposed upon us.”
The ex-leader also said Burnham “doesn’t appear to be doing anything different internationally,” noting that he has not given a straight answer on whether Britain should conduct an inquiry into the UK government’s policy on Gaza and its supply of weapons to Israel.
Burnham has also drawn criticism for saying he would maintain Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has spearheaded hard-line changes to UK asylum policies and has enforced the repressive ban on Palestine Action, which has led to the arrest of thousands of nonviolent protesters, many of whom have been charged with terrorism.
“The architect of Labour’s cruel plans on settled status and persecution of free speech and protest stays in place,” said Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who said it was a sign of “more of the same.”
Remarking on Burnham’s team of economic advisers, who include former chief economists for the Bank of England and Goldman Sachs, Polanski said it “isn’t a team of advisers which looks like challenging wealth and power.”
'He's the establishment's last roll of the dice.'
Your Party MP Zarah Sultana has criticised Andy Burnham, Makerfield’s new MP, suggesting nothing will change if he becomes prime minister.
Sultana described Burnham as “the establishment’s last roll of the dice”, “not the second coming”.
Burnham was elected to represent Makerfield yesterday, and will now look to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister.
The Coventry MP blasted Burnham in a post on X, criticising him for voting for the Iraq war in 2003, and for refusing to describe Israel’s ongoing destruction and mass killings in Palestine as genocide.
In a strongly-worded post on X, Sultana wrote: “Just another reminder that Andy Burnham voted for the Iraq war – an illegal war that cost over a million lives.
“He has refused to describe the systematic slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza as genocide.”
Referring to Burnham replacing Starmer as prime minister, she said: “So what will change? Nothing.”
Earlier this month, Burnham said he “can’t judge” if the Israeli military’s crimes in Gaza are a genocide.
Sultana argued arms sales to Israel would continue under a Burnham government, and that “welfare will be cut to fund more weapons”.
She added that immigration detention will be expanded, and mass deportations will continue.
According to a ‘source’ who spoke to the Guardian, Burnham has privately backed Shabana Mahmood’s hardline changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain, which have seen qualifying times for settled status doubled from five to at least 10 years.
The former Labour MP said the danger of “racist pogroms” on our streets has not gone away, and that fascism is “already here”, adding that “only socialism can face down this barbarism”.
Earlier today, she also mocked Starmer’s response to Burnham’s victory in Makerfield.
Starmer congratulated Burnham, stating: “Voters chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate.”
Sultana responded with the meme of a person crying behind a smiley face mask.
While some commended Sultana’s comments, others accused the co-founder of the failed Your Party project of “mouthing left politics” but failing to achieve change.
JUNE 20, 2026
Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election was nothing short of dazzling. The Greater Manchester Mayor took a majority of votes cast and beat his nearest rival, the Reform UK candidate, by nearly 9.000 votes. Turnout at 59% was exceptionally high for a by-election, emphasising that this was no ordinary contest.
The scale of Burnham’s victory will underline for many Labour MPs not only that Burnham is a winner – but he may be the only chance that many of them will have of retaining their seats at the next General Election. This win will see more and more of his colleagues coming across to his cause, leaving Keir Starmer increasingly isolated. Already Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is reported to have told the Prime Minister to set a timetable for leaving office.
It’s a great opportunity and as Burnham’s victory speech underlined, it won’t come again. He said: “There will be no second chance, but it is a chance now, from this result tonight, to build a new politics based on unity and hope, turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States. We must now take this path and put this country back on the right path, and bring people back together and get things working properly again.”
Below Bryn Griffiths outlines where we go from here. Other reactions follow.
Labour has won big, Andy Burnham’s progressive vote beating all the right-wing candidates put together. It gives us all hope that the hapless Starmer will be promptly removed and replaced by someone who can actually win a difficult election.
Don’t underestimate the sheer enormity of the Makerfield achievement because back in May, in the Council elections, Reform won every ward in the constituency!
As well as Andy, we must also give a little bit of credit to the Greens due to their low-key campaign, allowing a united effort to beat Reform. It’s a precedent I hope both parties – that is, including Labour – can follow whenever difficult circumstances demand it.
Today we can celebrate, but as good as our victory is, it is not good enough. It can only be the start of a struggle to rebuild the left, to both support and place pressure on Andy Burnham from below and defeat Nigel Farage. We cannot rest between now and 2029 until we have beaten Nigel Farage and the extreme right in all its manifestations across the whole country.
Please don’t even think about trusting Andy Burnham – or for that matter, any individual MP. Instead, see this Makerfield victory as an opportunity to rebuild a broad pluralist left to support, and most importantly, put a lot of pressure on Andy.
Our rebuilt left must support picket lines, community organisation, stand with those in the front line such as the LGBTQ+ community including our trans siblings, insist on the re-nationalisation of our utilities, and never ever move an inch on Gaza.
A great start to rebuilding such a left will be backing Centre Left Grass Roots Alliance and Mainstream candidates in Labour’s internal elections. Both sets of candidates are committed to reintroducing democracy into the Labour Party. The election of candidates on these slates will allow us on the left to breathe again.
Momentum is backing four brilliant socialist candidates: Jessica Barnard, Gemma Bolton, Yasmine Darr, and Minesh Parekh for the CLP section of Labour’s NEC.
One opportunity Andy’s magnificent victory will give us is the chance to massively prioritise proportional representation (PR). Supporting PR is the right thing to do, will help persuade some of those abandoning Labour to the left to lend us their votes in 2029, and when introduced, it will help us lock the extreme right out of Government.
Get briefed on PR by Sandy Martin, the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform Chair on the Labour Left Podcast here. Have a listen, then demand your Labour MP backs Alex Sobel MP’s campaign for a Commission on electoral reform.
There are tough times ahead, but for today, we can rejoice.
Bryn Griffiths is an activist in Colchester Labour Party and North Essex World Transformed. He is the Vice-Chair of Momentum and sits on the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy’s Executive. Hehosts Labour Hub’s spin off – the Labour Left Podcast – all episodes available here.
Other reactions
Momentum welcomed Andy Burnham’s win in a statement, pointing out that it “shows how we can win when all corners of Labour come together to defeat the right. This could not have been achieved without thousands of activists coming out in Makerfield inspired by the promise of a more hopeful, imaginative and inclusive politics.”
Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP agreed, tweeting: “Makerfield was a tremendous victory because it stopped Reform in its tracks. The progressive Left united to defeat the divisive politics of the Right. The next step is to re-establish the broad church of the Labour Party.”
Ian Byrne MP said the “remarkable result is a world away from where Labour currently stands in the national polls. It proves that Nigel Farage and the politics of division can be defeated at the next General Election. But that will only happen if Labour changes course and reconnects with the communities it was founded to represent.”
Former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott MP, who has been suspended by the Party leadership for nearly a year, congratulated Burnham on his result – “and a complete rout of the far right!” She added: “It is completely true we need sweeping change, not just in leadership but also in policies that deliver for ordinary people.”
Former Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Jon Trickett MP agreed, saying: “Our party needs new leadership and a transformative programme that delivers for all of our people.”
“A leadership contest is now highly likely,” he wrote in a Tribune article. “Properly conducted, it could become a genuine moment of democratic renewal for the party. Every major strand of Labour opinion deserves a voice. The conversation Labour needs cannot happen while the shadow of the control-freakery, bureaucratic centralism and factionalism that defined the Starmer–McSweeney era continues to hang over it.”
In a detailed and thoughtful analysis, Labour’s former Strategic Campaigns Adviser Simon Fletcher lamented Keir Starmer’s conservative policy choices over the least two years which have reduced Labour’s social base. “Ideas championed by the Left, from public ownership to wealth taxes and beyond, are in step with public opinion and indeed reflect the concerns of sections of the population that have been willing to stop voting Labour,” he suggested.
But he also warned: “An incoming leadership that is not also honest about went so badly wrong on Gaza and is unwilling to correct it would not be able to reassemble Labour’s electoral coalition on a stable footing.”
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andy_Burnham_on_13_August_2024_%28cropped_2%29.jpg Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26320652@N02/53921141434/ Author: Scottish Government, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Wigan (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Veteran UK Labour politician Andy Burnham emphatically won a crunch by-election on Friday, securing a parliamentary seat and clearing the way for a widely expected leadership challenge against beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Issued on: 19/06/2026 - RFI
Burnham, a former government minister who has been Greater Manchester mayor since 2017, ensured his return to parliament by easily beating the hard-right Reform UK party's candidate in the Makerfield constituency in northwest England.
The 56-year-old longtime figure in centre-left Labour wants to replace Starmer as party leader and prime minister, and needed to win the high-stakes vote to be in a position to trigger such a contest.
If Starmer does leave office this year, then Britain will get its seventh prime minister in 10 years.
"I do say to my own party, this is a final chance to change," Burnham said in his acceptance speech after securing nearly 55 percent of the vote, beating Reform's Robert Kenyon by more than 9,000 ballots. Turnout was a historically high 59 percent.
"We must get it right," he added, saying his victory could be a "turning point" for the country.
Starmer congratulated Burnham on X, saying voters "chose Labour's campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate".
The prime minister was expected to speak to media during a public appearance in London Friday morning.
In office since July 2024, Starmer has been clinging to power since Labour suffered a drubbing in polls in England, Scotland and Wales last month.
'King of the North'
Starmer has been rocked by several policy U-turns and a scandal over his appointment of ex-Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to Washington.
Dozens of Labour MPs have called on Starmer to quit, and several ministers have resigned, as national surveys suggest Reform is set to win the next general election, expected in 2029.
But the 63-year-old ex-lawyer has refused to quit, insisting his landslide election victory over the Conservatives 23 months ago gave him a five-year mandate to govern.
Amid growing impatience within the ruling party, now-former Labour MP Josh Simons stood down in Makerfield so that Burnham could try to return to parliament and run for leader.
The unprecedented move thrust the little-known political district into the spotlight, handing its electorate of roughly 77,000 people an outsized say in influencing Starmer's fate.
Surveys show that Burnham – nicknamed the "King of the North" for winning three consecutive mayoral terms – is Labour's most popular politician and would likely win a direct vote against Starmer amongst the party membership.
Thursday's vote for the Makerfield seat, where Labour had held a majority of just 5,300 votes, was seen as a test of whether Burnham can defeat Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage.
The area is predominantly white and working-class -- fertile territory for the hard-right group which has topped national surveys for over a year.
But local plumber Kenyon's campaign was dogged by past offensive remarks about women, while the fringe hard-right Restore Britain party dented Reform's vote by snagging nearly 7 percent of returns.
'Transition'
Starmer has vowed to fight any leadership challenge, but the resounding nature of Burnham's win is likely to heighten pressure from Labour MPs to step down instead.
A cascade of resignations from Starmer's top team would make his position untenable.
Before the Makerfield result was declared, ex-minister Louise Haigh told the BBC Starmer should consider "an orderly and managed transition" of power.
Burnham, an MP from 2001 to 2017, hails from Labour's so-called soft-left wing and has been an outspoken critic of Starmer's more-centrist rule.
Attention now turns to when he will make his move against Starmer.
Burnham is due to be sworn in as a member of parliament on Monday. Under Labour party rules, leadership candidates must be an MP.
He will be able to easily muster the support of 81 of Labour's 400-plus MPs -- the minimum needed to kickstart a contest.
Ex-health minister Wes Streeting, from Labour's right wing, has said Starmer should be given "space over the weekend" to consider his future.
Streeting has also vowed to join any race, but could end up striking a deal with Burnham to avoid a divisive fight.
Speaking to the BBC, polling expert John Curtice cautioned against any suggestion that Burnham's victory would lead to a "dramatic" improvement in Labour's popularity nationwide.
London (AFP) – UK leader Keir Starmer swept to power in July 2024 promising to end years of chaos in British politics but has angered voters with numerous U-turns and controversies.
Issued on: 19/06/2026 - RFI
ADVERTISING
Now he faces a likely leadership bid by popular party veteran Andy Burnham after the Greater Manchester mayor won a decisive by-election in the northwest.
In his first speech as prime minister on July 5, 2024, Starmer promised a government of "service" that would "tread more lightly" on people's lives following 14 years of Conservative rule dominated by Brexit and infighting.
He sought to make a virtue of his more measured approach, contrasting what he saw as his pragmatic managerialism with the ideological bombast of previous Tory prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
"There's no such thing as Starmerism and there never will be," the man himself is said to have told colleagues, according to "Get In", a book about his leadership of the Labour party written by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund
But soon after entering Downing Street, he struggled to be the safe pair of hands he had portrayed, while his lack of ideology and charisma has left him struggling to sell a story of where he is taking the country.
He insisted on Friday that "there's more to do and that's what I'm focusing on" as he faced further calls from some of Labour's approximately 400 MPs to step down to avoid a bitter leadership challenge from Burnham and possibly other contenders.
Successful career
Starmer, born on September 2, 1962, was raised in a small semi-detached house on the outskirts of London by a seriously ill mother and an emotionally distant father who loved animals and rescued donkeys.
After university, he enjoyed a successful career as a human rights lawyer and chief state prosecutor which led to him being knighted by then Queen Elizabeth II.
A keen flautist and Arsenal fan, Starmer became an MP in 2015, succeeding left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader five years later, following the party's worst general election defeat since 1935.
He showed his ruthless side by purging Corbyn, targeting antisemitism and moving the party back to the more electable centre ground, delivering Labour's biggest election victory in over two decades.
On becoming UK leader, Starmer pledged to "fix" Britain after years of sluggish growth, a cost-of-living crisis and public services hollowed out by Tory austerity measures.
But he cautioned the road to recovery would be "long and difficult".
Troubles
His premiership got off to a bad start when his government announced a hugely unpopular policy to remove winter fuel payments from millions of elderly people, which had not been in Labour's election manifesto. He later backtracked.
Starmer was also forced into a humiliating climbdown on reforming welfare benefits, backed down in a row with farmers over inheritance tax and angered businesses for increasing a payroll tax and the minimum wage.
The early months were also dominated by anger over a free gifts row, while in September 2025, Angela Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister for underpaying a property tax.
That same month, Starmer sacked Peter Mandelson as his ambassador to Washington over the depth of the envoy's friendship with late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The appointment, for which Starmer has apologised, led to the departure of two of his closest aides and the most senior civil servant in the foreign ministry.
Starmer himself has refused to quit but the scandal haunts him, contributing to a series of humiliating local election results for Labour in May that renewed calls for his departure.
Burnham challenge
While Starmer has been praised for standing up to US President Donald Trump over the Iran war and maintaining European support for Ukraine, he has struggled to fend off support at home for both the left-wing Greens and the populist, hard-right Reform UK party, led by firebrand Nigel Farage.
A key by-election victory on Friday paved the way for an expected leadership challenge from popular Labour veteran Burnham, who decisively beat a Reform candidate on his home soil in the north of England.
Starmer has one of the lowest popularity ratings ever among prime ministers at just 19 percent, according to a YouGov poll.
On Friday, Starmer vowed not to "walk away" as leader, saying he would run in any leadership contest but warning that this would plunge the country "into chaos".
© 2026 AFP
Andy Burnham: Next British PM in the making?
Issued on: 19/06/2026 -
Play (14:45 min)From the show
There are reports in the Times of London, that British cabinet ministers are set to tell the Prime Minister Keir Starmer that his quote "time is up" to set a timetable for his departure and an orderly transition. There's been no confirmation that these talks have taken place from Downing Street.
Events dear events is the quote attibuted to the late British Prime Minister Harold Mcmillan, when asked what is likely to blow a government of course.
The event that's creating a lot of howling wind aroudn Keir Starmer right is what's just happened 173 miles away in the constituency of Makerfield near Wigan.
Once synonomous for pie eating contests, northern soul and rugby league.
It may go down in history as the election that paved the way for a future prime minister.
Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Manchester has talked of change needed for Britain, his reasons for entering a bi election, appear tied to the task of becoming an mp again to challenge the prime minister.
And he gave his pitch to be PM in his victory speech, but didnt declare the race underway.
OUR GUEST
VIDEO BY:
Daniel Whittington
Gavin LEE
Union leaders say the victory proves that Labour can defeat Reform, but that Starmer shouldn't remain as prime minister
Trade union leaders have reacted to Andy Burnham’s Makerfield by-election win, saying that Keir Starmer should not remain as prime minister.
Among them, the leader of the National Education Union, Daniel Kebede, and the Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, have both said Starmer should now step down.
Burnham won 24,937 votes in yesterday’s by-election, beating Reform’s Robert Kenyon by over 9,000 votes. Rupert Lowe’s hard-right party Restore Britain came in third, with 3,100 votes.
Reacting to yesterday’s by-election result, Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said: “The win for Andy Burnham in Makerfield is a glimmer of hope but it must not be taken as a business as usual mandate.
“It is clear that there now needs to be an orderly timetable for a leadership election and Keir Starmer must do the right thing and step down. The inevitable leadership election must be fought on real change and policies. Not personalities or better speeches.”
Meanwhile, Kebede said that Burnham offered an alternative to the Starmer status quo and that his victory had shown that “a future Reform government is not inevitable”.
He added that “what’s clear is if Farage’s ascendancy is to be halted, Keir Starmer cannot remain as Prime Minister”.
“And whoever becomes Prime Minister must set Britain on a different economic path”.
UNISON did not want to comment on Burnham’s leadership ambitions, but general secretary Andrea Egan said: “Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield is an important achievement.
“It shows the public aren’t fooled by the divisive tactics of the far-right, proving Farage and co can be defeated.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
After a thumping victory in the Makerfield by-election, Andy Burnham has set out his vision for both the Labour Party […]
After a thumping victory in the Makerfield by-election, Andy Burnham has set out his vision for both the Labour Party and the country during his by-election victory rally.
Burnham has made no secret of his desire to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership and today he set out his priorities for the country. Here are four key takeaways from Burnham’s speech:
1.’The Labour party must change’
Burnham told journalists and party activists gathered at the rally that he did ‘talk about the need to change Labour in this campaign and we’ve got to now take this moment to answer the challenges that have been laid down’.
He has championed bold and radical measures such as public control of energy and water as well as electoral reform and greater devolution.
2. An end to ‘trickle-down economics’
Burnham called for an economy that works for everyone and not just a few ‘in far off places’. He also called for bringing down water and energy bills and rail fares to make life more affordable for people, and highlighted his work in Manchester in capping bus fares.
“We do need an end to trickle-down economics, which didn’t trickle down very much at all to places like this, we want to see a new drive of re-industrialisation across the North of England and indeed in the rest of the country and indeed big change in Whitehall if that is to happen.”
3. Public procurement to use British business
Burnham said public procurement should be used for the benefit of British business and British industry so that ‘we can re-industrialise’.
He also said that procurement should be used to get more work placements for people and a guarantee of a work placement for every 16-18 year old who wants one.
4.End the ‘unfair’ immigration system
The Labour leadership hopeful also spoke about the unfairness of the current immigration system, criticising how the Home Office has turned areas like this into ‘HMO Britain’.
He has also supported Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s recent immigration crackdown. Sources close to Burnham say that he wants to “reframe” Mahmood’s changes while supporting attempts to limit legal and illegal migration.
Anderson said that overseas care workers should be able to get visas and the waiting time for ILR should not be increased retrospectively
Fleur Anderson MP has said that Andy Burnham must review Labour’s controversial immigration reforms if he becomes party leader.
While out campaigning in Makerfield, Anderson told Left Foot Forward that overseas care workers should be able get visas and people should not be forced to wait longer for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
This comes after Keir Starmer’s government closed the overseas care worker visa route to new applicants last July, and increased the qualifying period for ILR from five to at least ten years.
“Care workers should be able to get visas and I think that suddenly people who were on the trajectory to nearly get that leave to remain and then say it’s 10 years, those things I’m really looking at,” she said.
The Labour MP for Putney said she had been talking to the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood about these issues, and that they are policies Burnham should revisit.
She also argued that Burnham’s pledge to fix social care cannot be done without sorting out social care visas.
“Andy’s talked about sorting out the social care system, we can’t really sort that out while we don’t have the workforce to do it and I’ve talked to loads of care homes in my constituency and it’s having a huge impact,” she said.
Anderson said that welfare and immigration policies “are really dividing lines between us and Reform”.
She added: “He’s taken the fight to Reform here [in Makerfield] and I think he’s winning, that’s what we want to do across the country”.
Asked about Burnham’s comments saying he will look at cutting the welfare bill to fund defence, Anderson said “We cannot go on on that trajectory, we need to look at the balancing of the welfare bill.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
No comments:
Post a Comment