Suspended Labour MP Karl Turner has declared the party would have “no fear” of a General Election with Andy Burnham as Prime Minister.
Speaking to GB News, the Independent MP, who was sanctioned for opposing scrapping jury trials, said that the widely expected successor of Keir Starmer would rescue the party from “extinction” under the outgoing leader.
Since Sir Keir announced his resignation, there has been clamouring among some quarters that the next Prime Minister refresh the party’s mandate by consulting the public with a new vote.
“It is true, by the way, to say that politicians tend to call for a general election when in opposition, when party leaders change,” Mr Turner began.
“Of course we do. I did plenty of it,” he admitted.
“But that was about the legitimacy, in my view, of the government at the time.”
The Kingston upon Hull MP argued that the party’s large Commons majority gave Mr Burnham room to govern.
However, Mr Turner conceded that the former Manchester Mayor’s legitimacy would depend on governing within the framework of Labour’s 2024 manifesto.
Karl Turner has declared Labour would have ‘no fear’ of a General Election with Andy Burnham as Prime Minister
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GB NEWS
“If he’s using the Labour Party manifesto, which we won on… then we can prove that we have legitimacy.”
The Independent MP believed that if Mr Burnham could do this, Labour would brush aside any concerns of electoral oblivion.
He said: “And if he does the things that he’s promising to do, which people quite like, there’s no fear about a general election because we’d win.”
Mr Turner’s confidence appears to have some statistical grounding, with fresh polling revealing Labour topping Nigel Farage’s Reform UK under the former Manchester Mayor.
‘We’re very optimistic that he can do the business,’ the Kingston upon Hull MP said of Mr Burnham
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GB NEWS
In such a scenario, Labour’s support sits at 27 per cent, nudging just ahead of Reform for the first time in months.
Even still, Mr Turner explained that it would be a huge challenge for the former Manchester Mayor.
“I think he needs to save Labour,” the Independent MP stressed.
“The reality is we were looking at the extinction of the Labour Party and trade union movement. That was where we were under Keir Starmer’s leadership.”
Mr Turner claimed ‘we were looking at the extinction of the Labour Party’ under Kier Starmer
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“We have a big majority, but it’s biscuit thin. Under Keir Starmer, it was becoming wafer-thin.
“If we’d have gone to the country anytime soon under his leadership, I’m afraid to say it would have been gone – and gone for a terribly long time.”
Mr Turner insisted Burnham deserved the opportunity to prove himself before any fresh election.
“I think it’s different under Andy Burnham, and I think we’ve got to give him a chance now to prove himself.”
Fresh polling shows Labour leapfroging Reform UK with Mr Burnham as Prime Minister
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“We’re very optimistic that he can do the business,” Mr Turner added.
However, pollsters have warned that the so-called “Burnham bounce” was not bulletproof.
Jack Curry, pollster at BMG Research, said that “the bounce is wafer-thin”.
“Mr Burnham’s lead over Reform in that scenario is a single point, and on these numbers, no party is anywhere near a working majority,” he added.