Andy Burnham pledges 'maximum devoluton' if elected to Parliament

The Greater Manchester Mayor hopes to be Labour’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election, which could provide him with a route back to the Commons to challenge for the party leadership and the keys to Downing Street.

Speaking at the Great North Investment Summit in Leeds earlier today, Mr Burnham offered a vision of what he would do in power.

The former New Labour health and culture secretary claimed that Britain had been “on the wrong path” for 40 years.

“A path that has damaged communities across the North,” he said. “The deindustrialisation of the 1980s was devastating for places across Makerfield.”

He added that what has been offered in the past by Labour “has simply not been good enough”.

Mr Burnham said: “I’m clear about what I am offering. If I get to stand, a vote for me will be a vote to change Labour, because Labour needs to change if we are to regain people’s trust.

“It will be a vote to make life more affordable again, a vote to power up places, a vote to reindustrialise.”

Mr Burnham’s solution was to “transfer power and resources back to local areas” if he is “returned to Parliament”.

He said: “It depends upon maximum devolution of power and resources from national government to local government, and I want anyone, obviously from the national system, to really understand that.

“We can’t have this halfway house anymore, where something gets devolved, but none of the people get devolved, and they sit there marking the homework of the combined authorities and finding new ways of putting pressure on us to do, to do something that they want. It’s time to trust, trust the region’s office of this country, free them up, let them get on with the job.

“It means less delivery through unaccountable national agencies, and it means more things coming under local democratic control, like our buses.

“We can’t go on with a bloated national state and a malnourished local one.

“It is time for public servants to be transferred into local authorities and combined authorities to give them the capacity and the agency to get things done. This is how we underpin the next decade of devolution.”

However, following Mr Burnham’s apparent leadership pitch, Sir Keir Starmer reiterated that he still wants to lead Labour into the next general election.

Sir Keir, speaking to broadcasters in London, was asked whether he would set out a timetable to stand down if his rival Mr Burnham returns to Westminster.

The Prime Minister said: “I’m not going to do that.

“I do want to fight the next election. Obviously, I recognise that after the local election results, the elections in Wales and Scotland as well, that the first task is obviously turning things around and making sure that my focus is in the right place.

“The last 10 days, there’s been a lot of activity, which hasn’t been as focused in my view as it should have been, and I remind myself every day that I was elected to office to serve the people, to serve the country, that’s what I believe in, and that’s what I’ll be getting on with.”

Asked if he would fight a leadership contest if a rival had the 81 MPs needed to launch a challenge, he said: “We’re not at that position … but I’ve said, I don’t know how many times, that I’m not going to walk away.”

Meanwhile Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy compared the challenges to Sir Keir as colleagues “lighting the match and standing in the petrol”.

He told the BBC: “What there is is people like me who’ve been in the Labour movement for most of my life being crystal clear that unity, pulling together all of us, is what will deliver for the British people.

“Introspection and internecine warfare – effectively, some of our colleagues lighting the match and standing in the petrol – that is not what’s going to deliver for the British people.

“That’s not what’s going to deliver for the British people. What that will usher in is Farage.”

Earlier today, Josh Simons, who announced last week he wanted Mr Burnham to stand in his Makerfield seat, officially left the Commons by being made Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern under the archaic procedure required to quit as an MP.

Applications for Labour’s Makerfield candidacy closed on the same day and the party’s ruling National Executive Committee will endorse a candidate on Thursday.

The Prime Minister said the contest was “a fight between Labour and Reform” and “I will be backing 100 per cent whoever the candidate is”.

He called on the whole party for support and said “whatever views people may have on the direction of the party, that needs to be put to one side” so Labour can come together to campaign.