Burnham rules out snap election after first full working day in No10 North and vows to stick to 2024 manifesto
Andy Burnham has ruled out a snap general election, saying Labor would “delay the groundwork” of implementing its version of the 2024 manifesto.
On Friday the prime minister opened a new headquarters for the Government headquarters in Manchester, dubbed ‘No 10 North’.
Mr Burnham is expected to work at No 10 North, Heron House in Manchester, once a week during his premiership as part of a drive to shift power away from Westminster.
In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, the former mayor insisted he would not enter Downing Street on Monday and call an election after a rapid rise to power.
He said: “No I’m not. I don’t think that’s right.”
“We live in a parliamentary democracy. There was a manifesto for 2024. I am sticking to that manifesto. I am putting forward my own version, but it is still within that manifesto. I think we should just focus on making the country work.”
“That’s the biggest priority at the moment. A general election would delay this important work. I’m trying to do politics differently, as I did when I was mayor of Greater Manchester.”
He added that although he enjoyed his new role as Prime Minister, he missed being mayor of Greater Manchester, which earned him the nickname ‘King of the North’.
Speaking to his team and members of the media, Mr Burnham said he wanted to “give Britain hope again” and described the opening of the new base as “the best day of my life”.
He said it was a “full circle” experience for him as he had to leave the North West to start his career.
Mr Burnham added: “It’s true all over the country to get ahead in life – you had to leave where you were because things didn’t work there.
“The country has always been a little like this, hasn’t it?
“This opportunity has not been distributed equally across the country and not every place has felt part of the national story, and this Government will work every day to change that.
“And that’s exactly what No 10 North is about: to put power in every postcode so that people can turn things around for themselves and make changes, just like this great city and other British cities have done through devolution, turning things around because of the ability to do more for themselves.”
The Prime Minister insisted No 10 North was key to “ensuring good growth right across the country”.
Mr Burnham also spoke of wanting to create a “one team feeling” across the whole of the UK and insisted No 10 North was “for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as much as it is for the parts of England”.
The new Prime Minister met face-to-face with Scottish prime minister John Swinney for the first time on Thursday and told him a new independence referendum was “off limits”.
He also met with Rhun ap Iorwerth, the first minister of Wales, in Glasgow; he pressed for the Welsh Government to be devolved with the same powers that existed in Scotland, including rail, policing, justice and the Crown Estate.
Finishing his speech at No 10 North, Mr Burnham railed against “mostly London-based” critics who he claimed would see the project as a “gimmick”.
