Chief Burnham ally Steve Rotheram says Starmer should be 'proud' of his legacy but will 'regret not going bolder'

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region praised the outgoing Prime Minister's "really good" legacy but added it would be "tinged with regret that he didn't go more bold and more quickly".

Speaking on Tonight with Andrew Marr, he said Starmer should be "proud" of his part in the pushing through the Hillsborough Law - which came into force in Sir Keir's final days in office - as well as his work around employment rights and child poverty.

"There's loads of bits and bobs, but I think it'll be tinged with regret for him that he didn't go more bold and more quickly," Rotheram told Marr.

Rotheram, who like Burnham was a Labour MP before becoming a metro-mayor in 2017, brushed aside the question of which wing of the Labour party Burnham would govern from.

Read more: Hillsborough Law finally approved by MPs after campaigners 'waited years too long'

Read more: Burnham calls for ‘serious review’ into MP safety after Ann Widdecombe killing

The former Manchester Mayor has faced questions over his political beliefs, with critics accusing him of "flip-flopping" in his allegiances.

"I think this dichotomy between is he left, is he right, is he this, is that— he's just him," he told Marr.

"He's got very solid values and principles, that will be the driving force..he will be able to do something, I think, for everyone."

Rotheram added that he wanted to see Burnham - who has pledged to open a No10 North as part of sweeping plans to shift power away from Whitehall- prioritise devolution.

"You can't have a monolith like a national government expected to deliver quickly for all parts of the UK. It simply can't happen. It hasn't happened.

"There's evidence there to suggest that that's one of the inhibitors to economic growth. So why have we had this lengthy period where areas feel they've been left behind?

"It's because Westminster's too far away, and decisions taken more locally by people who understand their areas are far better."

Rotheram continued that Burnham had the skills to "draw this very, very divided country that we currently all inhabit much closer together."

"He can communicate with anybody at their level," he explained. "And that's not just at a senior political level.

"He'll be talking to apprentices and young kids as well as, you know, politicians and everybody else, because the country needs to come together."

The Liverpool Mayor also spoke about his feelings days after the Hillsborough Law - named after the 1989 disaster that claimed 97 lives - cleared Parliament.

The law, which campaigners and families have spent decades campaigning for, imposes a duty on public authorities to tell the truth and co-operate with official inquiries and investigations.

Rotheram said he felt "relief tinged with a bit of hope" that the legislation could prevent similar mistakes from being made in the future and expressed his "absolute admiration" for families and campaigners.

He also revealed that he and Andy Burnham met with the intelligence services while working to get the bill into law.

"I saw Andy Burnham very clearly being able to put a case forward at a very, very senior level, a very technical case, and come out the winner," he told Marr.

It comes after the Attorney General, Lord Richard Hermer, praised Starmer's "enormous dignity and grace" after the premier's final PMQs as he prepares to step aside for Burnham.

Speaking after an "emotional" Commons session, which saw Chancellor Rachel Reeves burst into tears while Labour MPs gave Sir Keir a standing ovation, Lord Hermer told LBC he had "never had a moment like that".

"To see the Prime Minister, to see my friend Keir do his last PMQs, to conduct himself in the way that I think people in this country know him to be, which is a man of enormous dignity."

He added that Sir Keir had "ended his time in politics true to himself, true to his values, and with the kind of decency and dignity that I've always known since I first met Keir back 30 years ago".

Going further than Rotheram, he said Sir Keir should be "immensely proud" of his "fantastic" record both as PM and the leader of the Labour Party.

"He took over a Labour Party that had just suffered its worst election defeat since 1935...He ridded the party of antisemitism. He turned it from a party of protest to a party that is serious about power. And he won an absolutely historic election result.

"And over the course of the last 2 years, he's done some fantastic things.

"And he's put this country back centre stage in the international arena, which has been huge benefit to this country."