Andy Burnham has confirmed his intentions to run for a third term as mayor of Greater Manchester. The former Leigh MP was first elected for the role back in May 2017 before increasing his majority four years later.
He captured national attention during the pandemic as the region battled strict lockdown restrictions and won praise from many for bus franchising plans, but felt the wrath of some residents last year amid a row over the Clean Air Zone. Yet Mr Burnham admitted last September he was likely to run for the job again in 2024.
Now, he has reiterated that position. But despite his more immediate aims, and failing with two previous attempts at the Labour leadership, Mr Burnham is not ruling out a third go for the job in future.
In an interview with his former Labour MP colleague Gloria De Piero, Mr Burnham said: "Well, firstly I will be running for a third term as Mayor of Greater Manchester. I love what I’m doing.
"I think what we are building in Manchester is a big part of the answer to make British politics work better. And that is putting more power in the hands of a place like Greater Manchester.
“You give a place like this more power and it’s unbelievable what it can do with it. So I’m not walking away from that, I’m going to be standing for a third term.
“What the future holds beyond that, I honestly don’t know. I have said I wouldn’t rule out going back at some point, but to make it clear, I would like to see Keir Starmer as the next Prime Minister of this country.
“I hope there will be a Labour government that really does get power out of Westminster. But later down the line, after all of that has happened, I'm not going to say that I'm going to rule that out. I mean having been in Westminster all of those years, and now having done this for almost six years, I feel I know a lot of the changes this country needs.”
Mr Burnham previously ran for Labour leadership in 2010 and 2015, when he missed out to both Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. The party is currently riding high in the polls under Sir Keir Starmer following a turbulent 2022, which saw three Conservative prime ministers.
Yet Mr Burnham is not convinced either Labour or the Conservatives are quite cutting through to voters. In the interview, which airs on GB News this weekend, he said: "I don’t think any of the parties are really cutting through to the extent that is needed given the feelings people have got about life at the moment.
“I don’t think this is a moment for sort of ‘business as usual’ politics. This is a moment where people are in a crisis situation in terms of their finances, and they look around and they see trains that don’t work but the companies who run them are getting bailed out to the tune of hundreds of millions.
"They look at a situation where energy was all sold off and now they have to pay thousands for their bills, whereas in other countries that’s not the case. People look at housing where everything was broken up and sold off.
“I honestly think the public are saying, ‘Well hang on a minute, that stuff has not worked’. It’s not working for the vast majority of people. People can’t afford the basics, they can’t afford the essentials.”
The 53-year-old pointed towards his work on the Bee Network bus franchising plans as a way of helping Labour connect with working class voters. He added: “I think it’s about focusing on the issues that working class people care about and that they experience every day.
“When I was in Parliament I can barely remember someone from Labour’s side standing at the despatch box saying, ‘I’m going to make a big issue about reforming buses’. Never heard it once. And yet you come back here as Mayor and everyone is like, ‘sort the buses out Andy, they're an absolute mess'."
Amid the ongoing railway chaos hitting the region, Mr Burnham insists the North is now 'getting stronger' and making its voice heard, suggesting Whitehall 'can’t continue to treat us in the way they always have done'. He also says his role as mayor helps him put Greater Manchester first.
“In this role I don't have the same constraints,” he added. “ I'm kind of speaking for the place, not always the party. I'm doing what's right for Greater Manchester.
"This is the place I’m from, the place I love, I’m at home here. So yeah, I think that leads to you coming across in a different way. I look back on my time in Westminster and I don’t think people did see the real me.”
The interview will be broadcast at 6pm on Sunday, January 22. It will be aired on the Gloria Meets show, on GB News.
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