Andy Burnham’s Labour will “wear our hearts on our sleeve more”, the PM-in-waiting’s ally Lisa Nandy has said, in an apparent swipe at Sir Keir Starmer who has been criticised for failing to connect with voters.
Ms Nandy, the culture secretary, said a Burnham government would also be “faster and bolder” because he is “willing to think very differently about how we deliver… change”.
“I think people will see us taking the fight to any system that stands in the way of them living better lives,” she told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“And I really think, at the moment, at a time when trust in the power of government to change people’s lives is very weak, that that is an enormously important thing.”
But she insisted that his plans for a ‘No 10 for the North’ were about more than just moving officials to Manchester.
She conceded that the idea has “attracted a lot of interest” but said it was really about “shifting the centre of gravity in the country, so that all parts of the country are seen and heard and are able to contribute”.
Sir Keir has been repeatedly criticised for failing to give his government a coherent narrative that explained what it wanted to achieve and for failing to show emotion.
He did finally make an emotional address outside Downing Street, as he announced his resignation last month, when he fought back tears while thanking his family.
Mr Burnham has been all but confirmed as the country’s new prime minister, after he secured the backing of 322 Labour MPs, meaning he requires just one more MP to nominate him to make it mathematically impossible for a rival to stand against him. Home Office minister Mike Tapp said he would back him when the Commons returns on Monday.
He has already signalled he is willing to do things differently, saying that the UK had been too slow to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Ms Nandy also appeared to hint he could borrow billions of pounds, saying he would might look at “other options” to fund defence rather than move money from within existing government spending.
She said there were “choices in front of a new prime minister about how to fund” the increase in defence spending that is needed.
“One of those choices, which is the choice that Keir Starmer made, was to find that money from existing spending,” she said. “There are other options available as well. I haven’t discussed it in any detail with Andy Burnham, but I know he will want to look at that and make his own choices about… how he thinks the best way to fund that is.
“What I’m absolutely convinced about, having known him well now for 17 years, is that whether we fund defence is not going to be a question. The question will be how.”
Mr Burnham is already under pressure from 80 Labour MPs who have signed a letter urging him to dump Sir Keir’s planned migration curbs, which would see the wait for indefinite leave to remain status double from five years to 10.
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