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Steve Reed: ‘The public do not want a general election’
At the start of this week, Keir Starmer announced that he would be standing down as prime minister. This morning, on Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked Housing Secretary Steve Reed if Andy Burnham will be the next in line. Reed said he and most of his Labour colleagues want Burnham to take over, and the transition should be conducted in as ‘orderly and smooth a way as it can be’. Phillips noted that Burnham would become the seventh prime minister since John Major to take office without being elected, and asked if there should be a general election. Reed claimed that polls suggest the ‘vast majority’ of the public do not want an election, and they want the government to ‘get on with the job’.
James Cleverly: Instability of governments ‘not good for us on the world stage’
Trevor Phillips also spoke to shadow housing secretary James Cleverly, and wondered if the Conservatives do not want an election, because of their substantial defeat in Makerfield. Cleverly pointed out that the Tories had won the by-election in Aberdeen South, and argued that Burnham is popular because he has not had to make any difficult decisions yet. Phillips asked whether, as a matter of principle, the country should be changing prime ministers without elections. Cleverly said he had disagreed with previous calls for the Conservatives to trigger a general election when changing leader, but he argued that unstable governments were harming the country’s reputation on the world stage.
