Andy Burnham will 'be bold' while sticking to Labour Party manifesto

Burnham became leader of the Labour Party on Friday without an internal contest, with the former Greater Manchester mayor swiftly stepping into the role of PM without a General Election on Monday. The last manifesto that the general public voted for was in 2024.

While the leading party is not legally bound to follow its manifesto to the letter, conservative voices, including Nigel Farage, are calling for a General Election in order to "let us decide the future of our country.”

In response to questions from the press over whether he will call a General Election, Burnham said: "We're in a parliamentary democracy, and as we've seen through time, if somebody can command the majority of the MPs in the House of Commons obviously they then have the legitimacy to lead things forward.

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"I will be bold and I will be true to what [the manifesto] says, but there are big changes that I can implement coming from that manifesto,” in a tacit denial that he will call a General Election any time soon," he told the outlet.

Labour Deputy Leader, Lucy Powell, echoed this on Sunday, noting Burnham’s premiership was a “reset” for the party: "our manifesto did talk about the redistribution of power, it did talk about the rewiring of our country, it did talk about taking on some of those vested interests.”

However, political rival Nigel Farage told The Telegraph: “We are calling for an immediate General Election. Burnham must set out his stall, put it to the British people, and let us decide the future of our country.”

According to polling, 51 per cent of people want Burnham to call an election.

In addition to using his first national address to pledge new council houses and a promise to discuss more cost of living crisis plans tomorrow, Burnham has already appeared to be ready to break with his predecessor over two major policies: Digital ID and drilling in the North Sea.

Drilling in the North Sea is in direct contradiction with the manifesto which pledged no new licensing for oil and gas fields. However, Burnham is said to be “open minded” to the idea of issuing new licenses.

The 2024 manifesto also pledged a £24bn plan for new green initiatives, and a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

Powell told the BBC that the new drilling plan is not “a change of policy. It's more a change of emphasis."

Another pledge from the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, and departure from Starmerism, is to move politics away from Downing Street and into more local areas.

Burnham told the crowd at Downing Street: “We will take power out of here, and carry it into every postcode in the land, so that they can do more, and in doing more, build a new economy, where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again, reindustrialising Britain using public procurement to back British industry.”

The new PM’s call for a new era of nationalisation came as no surprise, as prior to officially taking office he floated a plan to nationalise Thames Water.

He ended his first address to the nation with a promise to “end rough sleeping in our country.” He spent the morning before becoming PM volunteering at a soup kitchen in Victoria.