Andy Burnham rules out calling general election in next 12 months as he says he is not thinking about Labour’s ‘prospects’

Mr Burnham was asked if he would call an election in the next year as he visited a community centre in central London after Chancellor John Healey’s Budget statement.

He said: “I don’t know how many times I’ve done this now, but yes, I can rule out calling a general election in the next 12 months.

“I have said repeatedly since coming into this job, I’m not thinking about myself. I’m not thinking about my own party and its prospects.

“I am thinking about people, and I’m thinking about what I can do to help them to have that care for people, which I spoke about on my first day in Downing Street.”

He added that he was “leading from the front” and “putting Britain on a different path”.

He said: “We’ve got a 10-year plan to come, and that will inform the spending review next year.

“These are my priorities, not looking at our own internal party political advantage.”

On Monday, the Prime Minister was grilled on whether he would call an election after discussing his hopes for a “pragmatic” approach to the UK’s relationship with the EU.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Burnham was pressed on whether he was “softening us all up for an early general election”.

He ruled out calling an early election, arguing that Britons now want him to “get on with the job”.

The Prime Minister responded: “No, no, I’ve ruled that out. I did that before the Labour conference, because I just don’t think people want another backward looking squabble. They want me to get on with the job.”

Asked why he has “brought up rejoining the EU” if he is not seeking early election, he made clear: “We have a decade of experience now looking back at Brexit, and I don’t think it has played out as people said it would at the time.

“We got a harder Brexit than was proposed in the referendum campaign. It’s weakened our economy. It’s also weakened our control of immigration.”

Taking aim at the Prime Minister, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage declared it would be a “straight contest” between himself and Mr Burnham in a general election fought over Brexit, Europe and migration.

The Reform UK leader told a press conference: “He has no mandate whatsoever to agree to anything at that summit.

“It would not only be a betrayal of the greatest democratic exercise in the history of this country but also a betrayal of what he promised the voters of Makerfield just a few short months ago.

“None of this legitimately can be done, from a democratic perspective, without a general election.”

Mr Farage also predicted a general election could take place in spring 2027, adding: “If there’s going to a general election about Europe, open borders and migration, then it absolutely needs to be a straight contest between this Prime Minister and this party.

“This is a total betrayal of Brexit Britain and his Makerfield pitch.

“The Conservatives, even given the opportunity of ending free movement with the European Union, decided to enter into an experiment that effectively gave us free movement with the whole of the world.”