Andy Burnham admits ‘my generation of politicians has failed’ as he issues a ‘last chance' warning to Labour

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Speaking to LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the new MP for Makerfield said Britain "needs something different".

He said: "We've had a decade where politics really has not been working for people at all. We can't do more of the same, and this is what I was saying in the speech this week.

"The time has come for a circuit breaker to try something different."

The Prime Minister-in-waiting, who is expected to replace Sir Keir Starmer following his resignation, vowed on LBC that he is "going to do politics differently".

He criticised the point scoring in parliament, and added: "I think people are really fed up with it, and this is a really important point.

"You can't go around pointing fingers when you haven't been good enough yourselves. And I would say that all politicians haven't been good enough."

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Mr Burnham, who is expected to replace Sir Keir without a leadership contest, said: "The country needs lifting up and at some point someone has to step forward and say, you know what, this does mean practising a different way of working and trying to bring people together."

Sir Keir announced last month that he will resign as Prime Minister less than two years after coming to power.

In a statement outside 10 Downing Street, Sir Keir said his party had asked “whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election”.

He said: “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.”

Mr Burnham has vowed to build an inclusive team if he becomes the next prime minister, but declined to name any of his future cabinet.

He added that Westminster "needs quite significant culture change".

The 56-year-old was MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester from 2001 to 2017. From May 2017, he was Mayor of Greater Manchester - winning that election, and two subsequent votes in 2021 and 2024.

Speaking of his return to Westminster last Monday, Mr Burnham told LBC it "didn't feel like the place I left".

"It does feel a more fragmented place, unhappier in many ways, and I think we do need to rediscover a sense of team spirit," he said.

"I personally don't think the whip should be used to punish people who have a vote on a matter of conscience."