Keir Starmer has resigned as prime minister, with Andy Burnham the only viable alternative to replace him. Given Burnham’s success in Makerfield, you can see why. The question is whether Burnham can turn his regional support into national success, and the signs so far aren’t promising:
NEW | Latest post-Starmer #GE2029 poll:
Ref: 28% ( –1 )
Con: 22% ( +1 )
Lab: 21% ( –1 )
Lib: 12% ( –1 )
Grn: 10% ( +1 )
Labour would be reduced to 107 seats (-304).
Poll: @Moreincommon_, 19-22 June
––
(+/- vs 15 Jun) pic.twitter.com/FBLVMITD2Z— Stats for Lefties
(@LeftieStats) June 24, 2026
Post-Starmer and pre-Burnham
Labour politicians seem to be convinced that their fortunes have turned around now that the King of the North has returned to Parliament:
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 22, 2026
The polling shows a different story, and the above isn’t even the worst. As Stats for Lefties highlighted, things look even more dire with YouGov:
Labour would be reduced to 55 seats (-356).
Poll: @YouGov , 21-22 June
––
(+/- vs 15 Jun) pic.twitter.com/kKuotTMcgy— Stats for Lefties
This is despite Burnham absolutely smashing it in Makerfield:
RES: 3,111 (NEW) – 6.8%
LD: 163 (-2,572) – 0.4%
Changes w/ 2024
58.75% turnout— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 19, 2026
So, what’s happening here?
There are a few things to bear in mind:
- Burnham is far less popular outside of Greater Manchester.
- Burnham isn’t actually the PM yet, and he hasn’t laid out his plan for government.
On this last point, we should note that Burnham laying out his plans won’t necessarily mean Labour’s polling improves. As Opinium reported, exposure to Burnham during the Makerfield by-election actually made people like him less:
Before the Makerfield result was known, Burnham remained the only potential Labour leader viewed as net acceptable.
40% said he was acceptable as leader.
31% said he was unacceptable.But, his score has fallen 12 points since May. pic.twitter.com/9b5Smx1hTm
— Opinium (@OpiniumResearch) June 20, 2026
Why did this happen?
In our opinion, it’s because the man is wishy washy on everything. Trying to get him to commit to a position is like trying to nail an egg to the wall. As we’ve reported:
- Shapeshifting Burnham ditches trans rights to panic-grab Reform votes.
- Burnham calls for ‘safe routes’ then agrees with Farage in muddled interview.
- Green candidate calls out genocide as Burnham sits on fence.
- Andy U-Turnham has already abandoned the Waspi women.
Another issue has been immigration. As we reported, Burnham went from criticising Mahmood’s immigration policies to backing them. Now, he’s supposedly going to water them down:
This includes ditching the retrospective reform for “Boriswave” migrants to wait 10 not 5 years for permanent residence
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 23, 2026
If he tinkers around the edges with immigration, the risk is he pisses off the right for backtracking while simultaneously pissing off the left for maintaining Mahmood’s Reform-lite ideology. And the risk isn’t isolated to migration, either; the signs are that Burnham doesn’t have a firm plan on any front.
“He’s [Burnham] talked largely about renationalising key industries… water, energy”
No he hasn’t. He talks about ‘public control’, not nationalisation
Still, what could possibly go wrong with a msm not scrutinising the policy platform of someone who wants to be Labour leader? pic.twitter.com/rlp73P5C6r
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) June 23, 2026
And the people Burnham is surrounding himself with leave a lot to be desired:
Purnell has described disabled people as “people who scrounge from the system” and says they are falsely claiming benefits despite being supposedly fit for work.
(Spotted by @johnpringdns) pic.twitter.com/xrhAR2FyPb
— Stats for Lefties
Andy Burnham’s Chief of Staff will be James Purnell.
Ex Chair of Labour Friends of Israel.
All you need to know.
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) June 24, 2026
Scrutiny
The fact that the former mayor of Manchester lacks a firm political core doesn’t mean nothing good will happen under his premiership. Sometimes positive change happens not because of the politicians introducing it, but because change becomes impossible to hold back.
This is why we need to keep challenging Burnham to introduce wealth taxes – to renationalise key industries – to support trans rights – to recognise Palestinian humanity, and so much more.
We’re not saying we’ll get what we want, but the less he offers, the more we’ll demand.
If Labour politicians think this is presumptuous, they’d do well to remember we’re not the ones who’ve turned 80% of the country against us! Are we, Starmer?
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
From Canary via This RSS Feed.