𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has signalled he will fight attempts to oust him from office ahead of the potential return of Andy Burnham to Westminster. Thursday’s Makerfield by-election will determine whether Mr Burnham brings swaps his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester for the green benches of the Commons – where he is strongly expected to challenge Sir Keir.

The Prime Minister told reporters he did not intend to “walk away from all this”. He told reporters he would “bring back the change that people desperately need”, as he pledged “to carry on with what I was elected to do” ahead of the Makerfield by-election on Thursday. Speaking at the G7 summit in France, he said: “We got a landslide victory in 2024 for a five-year mandate for this Labour Government.”

Sir Keir added: “I said at the time we will both invest in our public services and we will grow our economy, and many people said to me at the time, just as they’re saying things to me now, that’s not possible here. If you look at the results, we have invested in our NHS, waiting lists have come down, biggest drop in 17 years just the other week, and at the same time our economy is stable, and we’ve got the highest growth in the G7 at the moment. So very many times on my political journey, people have said to me it’s not possible. They said it’s not possible to turn the Labour Party around. It’s not possible to win an election.”

“It’s not possible if you do win an election to invest in your public services and stabilise the economy – wrong every time, and that’s why I intend not to walk away from this, but to carry on with what I was elected to do, which is to serve this country, bring back the change that people desperately need in their lives.”

His comments come as Labour and the Conservatives are tied on 19%, behind Reform UK on 24%.