Burnham on course to be PM by 17 July as popularity drops

Andy Burnham could walk into Downing Street as early as 17 July, after Labour’s ruling body set out a leadership timetable that leaves him virtually unchallenged – even as a new YouGov poll shows his popularity plunging to its lowest ever. The former Greater Manchester mayor confirmed his intention to stand shortly after Sir Keir Starmer resigned as prime minister on Monday, and has already secured backing from key cabinet ministers including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Health Secretary James Murray. With potential rivals such as Darren Jones ruling themselves out and Wes Streeting throwing his support behind Burnham, it appears increasingly likely that no other Labour MP will gather the 81 nominations needed to force a full membership ballot. If only one candidate meets the threshold by 16 July, the new leader will be announced at a special Labour conference on 17 July before being appointed PM by the King. In his first major speech since Starmer’s resignation, Burnham promised the biggest council house building drive since the post-war era, declaring the country is stuck in a “housing trap” with nearly 1.5 million fewer council homes since Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy. The would-be prime minister said the crisis was having a “ruinous” effect on public finances, criticising the freeze on local housing allowance for pushing families into homelessness. New homes will be built on vacant public land, driven by a new No10 North operation based in Manchester – part of what Burnham called “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen”. He warned that “growth cannot be ordered from the top down” and promised a decade-long plan to transform services and make people better off. But the YouGov poll, published after Starmer’s resignation, shows Burnham’s net favourability rating has fallen to -11, a seven-point drop from the -4 recorded after his Makerfield by-election victory. Some 42% of the public now view him unfavourably, the highest level ever recorded by the pollster. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch warned that Britain was heading for a “summer of chaos” with Starmer “barely in office” and Burnham wanting to take a “three-month summer holiday” to develop his policy agenda. She offered to lend Tory votes to Burnham if he attempted to pass “tough legislation” to reduce the benefits bill or national debt. Meanwhile, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts accused Burnham of focusing too heavily on England in his devolution speech, saying “Wales is a nation, not a region”. Despite the criticism, Sir Keir has said he wants an “orderly” transition and has authorised civil servants to meet prospective leadership candidates to help them prepare for government. His official spokesperson denied the administration is a “zombie government”, insisting that “the normal business of government continues”.