Andy Burnham Rules Out Early General Election: 'I Don't Think People Want It'

Andy Burnham has ruled out calling an early general election.

The new prime minister insisted voters do not want to go back to the polls just two years since the last time.

Speculation has been mounting at Westminster that Burnham could call a snap election to capitalise on a bounce in the polls for Labour, and to get his own five-year mandate from the public.

However, he does not need to have one before 2029.

Burnham became PM last Monday, barely a month after returning to parliament for the first time in nine years as the MP for Makerfield.

Reform UK, whose poll lead has been slashed in recent months, have led calls for a fresh election.

But asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg if he was planning one, Burnham said: “There is no general election.

“And the thing I would say to you is 20 million people voted for a manifesto. We’re in a parliamentary democracy, so that is what people voted for, and I will honour that manifesto.

“Obviously, I have faced the public in Makerfield. At the time I stood forward in that by-election, people said ‘oh my goodness, that constituency voted Reform in May, that’s a risk’.

“I went and faced the public and I went out onto those doorsteps. So I have done that. I’ve got support of colleagues in parliament, and it’s a parliamentary democracy that we’re in.”

Asked again if he was ruling out an early election, the PM said: “Well I’m going to rule it out. There’s no early general election. I don’t think people want it.

“The opinion polls might say some people do, some people don’t. I just think what I most need to do is get Britain focused on getting the country back where it should be, getting it working.”

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