Starmer will not attempt to block Burnham from standing to be MP in Makerfield - UK politics live

The Guardian understands that Keir Starmer will not attempt to block Andy Burnham from standing to be MP in Makerfield. Greater Manchester.

An ally of Starmer said: “Keir is focused on bringing the party together so it can tackle the issues facing working families.”

A week is indeed a long time in politics as Andy Burnham. the mayor of Greater Manchester, issued a statement saying why he wants to be the next MP for Makerfield. Burnham said “much bigger change is needed at a national level”. singling out the cost of living crisis as a priority for his campaign in a statement that set out why he wanted to return to Westminster. Josh Simons. the former Cabinet Office minister who is MP for Makerfield, announced that he is resigning to free up a seat for Burnham.

The Guardian understands Keir Starmer will not attempt to block Andy Burnham from standing to be an MP in the Greater Manchester constituency. An ally of Starmer said: “Keir is focused on bringing the party together so it can tackle the issues facing working families.”

Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary. said he wants Labour to have a leadership contest with “the best possible field of candidates”. He told Keir Starmer: “It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour party into the next general election. that Labour MPs and Labour unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism. “It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach. I hope that you will facilitate this.” He accused Starmer of failing to offer proper leadership, and of being at least in part responsible for the scale of Labour losses in the elections last week.

James Murray has been appointed Health Secretary, following Wes Streeting’s resignation, Downing Street said. Murray was previously Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Former deputy PM Angela Rayner has resolved her tax affairs with HMRC following an investigation. settling £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty. She has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs.

Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell is expected to say Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting. Angela Rayner should all be “key players” in Labour’s team in a speech on Friday.

Nigel Farage has provided a new explanation for why he accepted a £5m gift from a Reform UK donor in the weeks before he announced he would stand in the last general election. Farage said the money was a “reward” for campaigning for Brexit. Previously, he had said the gift was given for security purposes, to keep him “safe. secure” for the rest of his life. He had also claimed the gift was “purely private” and “wasn’t political in any sense at all”. Asked about the gift. he told The Sun: “And this was given to me on an unconditional basis, completely unconditional basis. But frankly, it was given as a reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years.”

Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram said the Labour Party “should welcome” a leadership contest from Andy Burnham. declaring his Greater Manchester counterpart should be allowed to contest the Makerfield by-election.

Rotheram he has been “loyal to every Labour leader” ever since he was a kid,. last week’s local election results brought concerns “into sharp focus”.

“Our party is the greatest organ for social change this country has ever seen, but if we carry on down this road, we face an existential threat. risk letting down the very people we are here to represent,” he added.

James Murray has been appointed health secretary, following Wes Streeting’s resignation earlier today, Downing Street said.

Lucy Rigby will take over Murray’s former role as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Rachel Blake will succeed her as Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Commenting on Andy Burnham’s plans to challenge for the Labour leadership, Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office Spokesperson. MP for Hazel Grove Lisa Smart said: “The arrogance of these men is staggering. To believe that representing a community is a gift to be handed to your mate shows utterly, out-of-touch contempt.

“Labour’s internal psychodrama has triggered this by-election so they should pay for the consequences - all £5 million pounds’ worth of the mayoral election.”

“He’s burned bright and briefly,” says one MP of Josh Simons. At the age of 32, the Makerfield MP has already run a thinktank, held a ministerial job, resigned in a scandal,. now quit parliament to in a blaze of publicity to make way for Andy Burnham.

Simons has been supporting Burnham as a potential successor to Keir Starmer for some time. But few expected the ambitious Labour figure to give up his seat having only won it two years ago. moving his young family to the constituency.

In his letter. he said he was putting his constituents first, as there needed to be a “shock to the Westminster system”.

He was also one of the first to call publicly on the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure after the local election results – even though he previously ran thinktank Labour Together that helped put Starmer in power. fuelled its policy programme.

Burnham supporters have been gushing about Simons’s decision, with one saying he had “literally put the party. the country first – like everyone else lectures we have to do – he’s done it”. Simons, who only recently welcomed a third child with his wife, was showered with praise from Burnham, who hailed “the difficult decision. sacrifice that he and his family are making”.

However. many MPs had only recently been disparaging Simons for having tangled up the government up in a scandal over gathering intelligence on journalists.

Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, is expected to say Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting. Angela Rayner should all be “key players” in Labour’s team in a speech on Friday.

Powell will repeat her support for the mayor of Greater Manchester’s bid to return to parliament as Labour’s candidate in the Makerfield byelection when she speaks at the Fire Brigades Union conference.

She is expected to say: “The election results last week were deeply painful. difficult for our party, and the aftermath has been unedifying for us all too. We don’t do hostile takeovers in Labour for a reason. Keir is the leader, and I warned against bloody internal battles reflecting badly.

“If we think we don’t have further to fall, that’s a mistake: we can. We must come back together as one team to take the fight to Farage. show that mainstream progressive politics can bring about the change people are crying out for.

“That also means doing politics differently. Ending briefing wars, ending factionalism,. representing all our traditions with our strongest team on the pitch – being one Labour team.

“Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner should all be key players in our team.

“Andy wants to come back to parliament – I’ve always supported his desire to do so,. I support that again. As deputy leader, I am confident he would have the support of the vast majority of the party. movement in doing so.”

Keir Starmer has proposed a face-to-face meeting with the leaders of the devolved governments next month after confirming he would be “open to a conversation” about devolving more powers from Westminster.

Starmer put forward the idea of a meeting in June during a phone call with Plaid Cymru’s newly installed first minister of Wales. Rhun ap Iorwerth.

After it emerged that Zack Polanski failed to vote in the local elections. Kevin Hollinrake MP, Chairman of the Conservative Party, said: “Even Zack Polanski can’t bring himself to vote for the Green Party.

“This is a bizarre failure and adds to a long list of half truths and blatant lies from Zack Polanski.

“The Green’s are not a serious party. Only the Conservatives have the team, plan and leader with a backbone to Get Britain Working Again.”

As resignation letters go, it is long – two pages and nearly 1,000 words – and relatively dense. And as ever with such missives, there is plenty of subtext behind the substance.

So what was Wes Streeting trying to say to Keir Starmer?

Analysis of last week’s local election results show that of the ten wards contested on Wigan Council that fall within the parliamentary constituency of Makerfield. either wholly or partially, Reform candidates won every single one of them.

Andy Burnham needs to make clear if he will be break away from “terrible orthodoxies” of the past or be “more of the same”. Green Party leader Zack Polanski said.

Responding to the announcement that the Greater Manchester mayor plans to stand in a by-election in a bid to return to Parliament. challenge Keir Starmer, the Green leader said: “Last week’s elections shows the country is crying out for a break from the failed status quo.

“Keir Starmer has been unable. unwilling to break with an economic model that has fuelled the affordability crisis, and this is why we have said he must go.

“Whatever happens in the coming by-election. Andy Burnham will need to make clear which version of him is going to show up.

“Is it the politician who has been part. parcel of the Labour establishment for decades, abstaining on legislation making brutal cuts to welfare, PFI and other Labour privatisations, or is it the one who has publicly supported proportional representation, been a popular mayor in Manchester and expressed support to make changes to the failed economic model?

“The country needs to know if Andy Burnham is serious about breaking out from the terrible orthodoxies from the past. or if he will just be more of the same.”

The Guardian understands that Keir Starmer will not attempt to block Andy Burnham from standing to be MP in Makerfield. Greater Manchester.

An ally of Starmer said: “Keir is focused on bringing the party together so it can tackle the issues facing working families.”

Wes Streeting has quit his cabinet role as health secretary. called on Keir Starmer to resign as prime minister after days of speculation.

But Streeting did not launch his own challenge to trigger a leadership contest. so what could be next for Starmer’s government?

And has he left the door open for Andy Burnham? Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot.

Zack Polanski did not register to vote in this month’s local elections because of the heightened intrusion. safety risk faced him, according to the Green party.

The Green leader is now in talks with the police. local authorities about registering to vote anonymously, the party told the Guardian.

Polanski has been under pressure since admitting he may have failed to pay the correct council tax while living on a houseboat moored in east London. He has faced mounting questions over whether it was his primary residence.

The party said on Thursday that Polanski lived on the houseboat for just under four years. something which it said came with “unconventional practical considerations, including whether council tax is included in mooring fees.”

He was now seeking clarity on whether he owed anything was committed to paying that immediately.

His living arrangements had been “in flux” in recent months. he had recently moved into a rented home, said the statement, which sought to address claims that the party had misled The Times when it had told the newspaper that Polanski rented a room at another address where council tax was included in the rent and stayed on the boat only “occasionally”.

“We issued a rapid response to an unexpected query in the middle of a busy local election period in. we disclosed some facts before we had the full picture,” it said.

The statement went on: “Since becoming leader Zack has been subject to extreme. distressing press intrusion, including antisemitic cartoons being published about him, and journalists doorstepping family members.”

“Zack has also been the target of antisemitic. homophobic abuse, with two people arrested in relation to abuse directed towards him. One consequence of the heightened intrusion. safety risk he faces was that Zack did not register to vote in the most recent local elections.”

While MPs. councillors are protected under Operation Ford and Operation Bridger, UK policing initiatives designed to protect democratic processes by securing elected officials against intimidation and harassment, the party said that its leader does not benefit from this protection either as a London Assembly member nor as a national party leader.

This was subject to conversations with the Metropolitan police and is under review.

The favourability ratings of the current party leaders and senior Labour politicians.

As the drama unfolding at Westminster, at Holyrood 129 newly elected MSPs were sworn in to begin their duties, with a notable multilingual effort from the Lib Dem’s Yi-Pei Chou Turvey who took her oath in Mandarin, French. English.

Newbies - this term sees the largest number of never-before MSPs since the parliament started in 1999 - have been going through an intensive orientation with Holyrood staff ‘buddies’ since Monday. had a chance to relax in the garden lobby with family members today.

But many remarked on how insistent the parliamentary authorities had been that remote working. voting, a hangover from COVID times, should be limited with a focus on being in the building together.

While SNP members wore their traditional white rose button hole, a nod to nationalist Hugh McDiarmid’s famous poem, while Reform opted for heather. the Greens a bright pink gerbera.

While Keir Starmer’s authority as prime minister feels terminally undermined after calls from MPs. departing ministers to step down, he remains inside No 10 – for now. So how, and when, might he be removed? Here are some possible scenarios.