Andy Burnham has ruled out a snap general election, saying it would “postpone that essential work” of implementing his own version of Labour’s 2024 manifesto.
On Friday, the prime minister opened a new headquarters for the centre of Government in Manchester, which has been named ‘No 10 North’.
Mr Burnham is expected to work at No 10 North, at Heron House in Manchester, once each week during his premiership, as part of his move to push power out of Westminster.
During an interview with Manchester Evening News, the former mayor insisted he would not call an election, having entered Downing Street on Monday after a rapid climb to power.
He said: “No I’m not. I don’t think that is right.
“We live in a parliamentary democracy. There was a manifesto in 2024. I’m sticking to that manifesto. I’m bringing forward my version but it is still within that manifesto. I just think that we need to focus on making the country work.
“That is the biggest priority right now. A general election would postpone that essential work. I’m also trying to do politics differently, as I did when I was mayor of Greater Manchester.”
He added that although he was relishing his new role as PM, he missed being the mayor of Greater Manchester, which famously earned him the moniker ‘King of the North’.
During a speech to his team and members of the media, Mr Burnham said he wants to “get Britain hoping again” and described opening the new base as the “best day of my life”.
He said it was a “full circle” experience for him, as he had to leave the North West to start his career.
Mr Burnham added: “And it’s true of places all over the country to get on in life, you had to leave where you where you were because things weren’t here.
“The country has always been a little like that, hasn’t it?
“That opportunity has not been evenly spread around the country, and not all places have felt that they are part of the national story, and that is what this Government is going to work every single day to change.
“And that is what No 10 North is all about: putting power in every postcode so that people can turn things around for themselves and make changes, just as this great city has done, and the other English cities are doing through devolution, turning things round because of that ability to be able to do more for themselves.”
The prime minister insisted No 10 North was key to getting “good growth going in every part of the country”.
Mr Burnham also spoke about wanting to create a “one-team feeling” across the whole of the UK, and insisted No 10 North was “as much for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as it is for the regions of England”.
The new Prime Minister met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday with Scottish first minister John Swinney, and told him that another independence referendum is “off limits”.
He also met with Wales’s first minister Rhun ap Iorwerth in Glasgow, who pushed for the Welsh Government to be given the same devolved powers as those available to Scotland, including over rail, policing, justice and the Crown Estate.
Concluding his speech at No 10 North, Mr Burnham railed against critics – “often London based” – who he claimed will see the project as a “gimmick”.