Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire spoke with Andy Burnham:
- Victoria Derbyshire: Why do you believe you would be a better Prime Minister than Keir Starmer?
- Andy Burnham: I am not getting into that.
- Victoria Derbyshire: Why not?
- Andy Burnham: I am fully focused on this by-election… Because it’s disrespectful actually to the decision that people here are making. I’m making no assumptions at all about what happens after the 18th of June and the reason I say that, and this is something that anybody who lives in this constituency will know, is that this is a tight contest. There is still so much to play for in this, in this race. It’s actually been a really great experience to be honest, it’s just fantastic that this area has the national spotlight on it, that you’re here, that we’re talking about the issues of this constituency.
This is despite Burnham sending a press release out to papers this morning about his plans to cut business rates by 20% in government. Pick and choose – this is the attitude to the campaign which is derided by those who think Burnham will crash and burn upon impact with political reality…
Just for fun, Burnham also couldn’t name the fiscal rules:
- Victoria Derbyshire: Your team confirmed to our Economics Editor that you would stick to the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s self-imposed fiscal rules. Can you remind us what the fiscal rules are?
- Andy Burnham: I’m not going to go through a discussion like a, you know, an exam on the fiscal rules.
- Victoria Derbyshire: Why not?
- Andy Burnham: I know what the fiscal rules are.
- Victoria Derbyshire: Remind us what they are.
- Andy Burnham: I’ve been very clear about it. We will set out a plan that is within those rules so that we keep the discipline. Nothing I’ve said at any point in this campaign or before this campaign has been about ignoring the bond markets or saying they don’t matter. And that is the firm position that we have taken and actually to go further than that, the Labour manifesto matters as well here because that is what this government was elected on.
Strap in…
