Andy Burnham confirmed his intentions to run for the Labour leadership but he could face competition from other prominent MPs.
Aintree-born Mr Burnham was sworn in as MP for Makerfield in Greater Manchester yesterday after defeating Reform UK candidate Robert Kenyon in a by-election on June 18.
MPs told Sky News that Bristol North West representative Darren Jones currently has “well over half” of the 81 nominations required to launch a leadership bid of his own.
Speaking to MerseyNewsLive in Liverpool today, some members of the public expressed their concerns over how democratic the leadership contest will be.
Hannah Wilson, 21, a postgraduate student at University of Manchester, said: “I am not comfortable with a Prime Minister that doesn’t need to be elected by the people, not just the Labour Party, I think an election should be called”.
Mr Burnham was previously Mayor of Greater Manchester before giving up his position to return to parliament.
Keir Starmer announced he would be stepping down as Prime Minister on June 22, but he will remain in the role until a new leader is elected.
Mr Burnham previously held several different positions in Gordon Brown’s government such as Secretary of State for Health and Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Wes Streeting, who recently resigned as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in May, confirmed he wouldn’t be running for leader and supported Mr Burnham’s bid to be the next Prime Minister in a post on X.
Mr Streeting said: “We were elected to change our country, to show that politics can be a force for good, and to spread opportunity for everyone. With Andy, we still can”.
Speaking to MerseyNewsLive, Maria Retford, 37, a customer service assistant, said: “I think a change had to happen, I’m not sure he will be all that different, but we’ll see”.
In his resignation speech, Sir Keir said he would like nominations to begin on July 9.
In a leadership contest, under Labour rules, every member of the party would be eligible to cast one vote and a candidate must receive over half of the votes cast in order to be crowned the winner.
