Starmer brushes off claims blocking Burnham from byelection was ‘cowardly’ – UK politics live

PM praises Manchester mayor and urges Labour to unite to fight Reform

Keir Starmer was being interview by Beth Rigby from Sky News this morning when he defended the decision not to let Andy Burnham be a byelection candidate.

After Starmer delivered his first answer (see 10.15am), Rigby asked him to what he would say to Labour MPs who think he is being “cowardly” and just blocking Burnham to avoid the risk of a leadership contest.

Millions of people will be better off if we have the continuation of a Labour government in Wales, and if we’re able to win the government in Scotland and retain and win councils across England.

When I came into politics in 2015, the first thing I did was support Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign. The first team I worked in was for Andy Burnham. And in the job he’s doing now, he and I work closely together ..

So there’s no question of me and Andy not working very well together. He’s doing an excellent job.

The battle of our times is the battle between patriotic, Labour party, Labour government, and the division of Reform. There’s no doubt about that … In that battle, we are all fighting this.

I think everybody in the Labour party, everybody who’s a Labour MP, wants to be in that fight, wants to fight alongside all their colleagues in a fight that matters hugely to the future of our country.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

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