Andy Burnham kills off snap election hopes as PM insists country must ‘look forward’

Andy Burnham has ruled out calling an early general election, saying his attention is instead on governing the country as he prepares to attend his first Labour conference as Prime Minister.

Ahead of the party’s gathering in Liverpool, Mr Burnham said he wanted to “draw a line” under the political divisions of recent years, and instead concentrate on restoring “a bit of hope” for the public.

His comments come amid claims that some of his senior advisers have been advising a snap election as soon as next year, in light of polling suggesting Labour could still emerge as the largest party.

Winning a fresh mandate would give Mr Burnham greater freedom to pursue his own governing priorities, rather than remaining constrained by the commitments contained in the 2024 Labour manifesto on which Sir Keir Starmer fought the previous election.

Questioned by the BBC on whether he was considering calling an election, Mr Burnham said: “Not particularly. No, I’m not.

“And I see all the speculation and it just races ahead. And, you know, the media love to do that. No, no election any time soon.

“I’m focused on the job as Prime Minister doing what I said I would do.

“I will lay out a big speech in Liverpool next week, which will say further about the direction I want to take the country in the coming period."

Mr Burnham continued: “The focus is on that: helping people with the cost of living, helping businesses with the costs of running a business.

“These have got to be the priorities right now rather than throwing the country into a backward-looking process where we are arguing again amongst ourselves.

“The time has come, draw a line, get the country looking forward, pulling together, people feeling a bit of hope in their lives again, that’s what I’m trying to do and I hope to take it further in the coming period rather than putting people back into an election cycle.”

Labour supporters of a premature election believe the party's commitments on taxation, fiscal rules and Britain’s relationship with the European Union have constrained the Government’s room for manoeuvre.

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One source said some Downing Street advisers and Labour MPs were encouraged by the party’s current two-point lead over Reform UK in polling, and wanted to consider whether that advantage could be translated into an electoral mandate.

However, some suggest the conflict in the Middle East would need to have eased, energy costs would need to be falling, and the Government would need to demonstrate a series of popular policy achievements before an election could be seriously contemplated.

A YouGov constituency-level poll published yesterday suggested Labour would remain the largest party if an election were held immediately, but would fall 85 seats short of an overall majority.

The multilevel regression and post-stratification survey projected Labour winning 241 seats, compared with 130 for the Conservatives, and 123 for Reform.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats were projected to take 71 seats, and the SNP 40.

The Lib Dems and SNP have both failed to rule out opposition to a coalition agreement with Labour, although the latter insisted conditions such as a Scottish independence vote would need to be addressed.

The Conservatives could also benefit politically from an election, with an improved result in polling placing them above Reform as the principal party on the Right.

A No10 source sought to end speculation over an imminent election, telling The Telegraph: “One person in Downing Street makes the decision and he has ruled out an early election.”