Reeves appears to accept time as chancellor is over as she warns Burnham ‘governing is hard’

Rachel Reeves has warned Andy Burnham that he must have a proper plan in place for the government when he enters Downing Street in just over a week.

In what was probably his last interview as chancellor, he appeared to accept that his hopes of remaining in office were over, telling the Prime Minister that “governing in England is difficult”.

During a program on BBC Laura Kuenssberg “It’s important for Andy to have a worked out plan when he walks through that door, because governing in Britain is difficult and there will be a lot of challenges and shocks coming his way,” he said on his programme.

“What’s really important is that he and his team are really clear about what they want to accomplish. As these shocks come along, he needs to stay laser-focused on the things that have always motivated him, that have always motivated him, and are the reason he wants to lead our great country.”

Ms Reeves was one of hundreds of Labor MPs who nominated Mr Burnham to replace Sir Keir Starmer earlier this week and said she wanted his term to be a success.

But his use of the phrase “his team” will be seen as an admission that his call to remain in office two weeks ago was ignored.

In the interview, the dogged Miss Reeves refused to say her controversial decision to cut millions of pensioners’ winter fuel allowance was a mistake and admitted crying in the House of Commons was the hardest moment of her job.

He also defended Mr Burnham, saying claims he had been preparing to live in Downing Street for at least a year were “entirely plausible”.

His close ally, former cabinet minister Louise Haigh, told the BBC in a podcast this week that Mr Burnham had been thinking about and planning his bid to become prime minister for “at least a year”; It was a statement that inflamed tensions within the Labor Party.

Asked how she felt about close colleagues plotting against her for so long, Ms Reeves told the BBC: “I think it’s perfectly reasonable for people to be ambitious, and Andy has never shyed away from the fact that he wants to lead the Labor Party at some point.”

He also backed the devolution agenda, saying “it would be a good thing for policymaking to have more decision-makers, both officials and ministers, in the north of England and across the country.”

He insisted Mr Burnham would have a “much stronger economy” because of his actions, but acknowledged the public was “impatient for change”.

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride has broken his record in office.

“He was someone who talked about growth, growth, growth, but since he got here we’ve seen quite anemic growth,” he told the BBC.

He said Ms Reeves had made “wrong choices” on taxation and borrowing.

“And if you do those things, you destroy growth, you destroy businesses, you increase unemployment, it’s the highest it’s been in five years, you have massive youth unemployment, and you have a low-growth, overextended, very fragile economy.

“This is all that remains of him,” said Ser Mel.

Mr Burnham is expected to become the new prime minister on Monday, July 20, having received the support of 322 Labor MPs so far.