Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, is running in the Makerfield byelection in June. Winning a seat as an MP would give him a pathway to challenge Keir Starmer for Labour party leadership. Burnham has repeatedly said politics does not work for most of the country, citing a London-centric, over-centralised political system. He has cultivated a persona as a representative of the North, especially during Covid, speaking for people outside Westminster. In recent weeks, he has claimed he is the only person who can save the country from Reform UK, despite Reform’s strong polling position. The question raised is what Burnham stands for.
"The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is running in the Makerfield byelection in June. Winning a seat as an MP would open up his chance to challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour party leadership. He's expressed multiple times that politics doesn't work for most of the country, the Guardian's north of England editor, Josh Halliday, tells Nosheen Iqbal."
"We live in far too much of a London-centric, over-centralised political system. He's built up this persona, and he's very deliberately done this over the course of his time in Greater Manchester, but particularly during Covid, as speaking for the world outside Westminster. And that's led to some calling him the king of the north."
"Over the last few weeks, Burnham has been telling people that he's the only person who can save this country from Reform UK, which sounds like a big claim to make in a time when Reform is so far ahead in the polls. But what does Andy Burnham actually stand for? Josh takes Nosheen through Burnham's political journey to get here."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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