Politics latest: Burnham given boost in bid to return as MP and Streeting to give first speech since resigning – UK Times

Business secretary Peter Kyle would not be drawn into saying whether he would support his ally Wes Streeting should the former health secretary make a bid for the Labour leadership.

Mr Kyle described his former Cabinet colleague as “legendary”, as he appeared at a think tank’s conference in central London.

The Business Secretary told the Progress conference: “As Emily says in The Devil Wears Prada, ‘You have no idea how many legends have walked these halls’.”

He added: “Well, Wes is legendary, and a good, solid, courageous friend who is a talent that is much-needed by this party.”

Asked by reporters if this meant he would back Mr Streeting should he stand in a Labour leadership contest, Mr Kyle replied: “Let’s just be really clear about the world we are in at the moment. The Labour Party is in Government, and we’ve just had a convulsive period.

“In fact, we’re still in that convulsive period, and we have to do two things, which the Tories failed to do: to govern in the interests of people and see our way through what is a challenging time, and I think people can see from the way that I’m acting that I’m trying to do both in a serious, sensible way that will show voters, show people, that I am never ever taken away from their priorities.”

Parts of the government will “grind to a halt” ministers have reportedly told the Financial Times.

Speaking to the FT, concerned ministers claimed initiatives such as the UK’s push for closer UK relations with the EU will be disrupted.

One minister reportedly said: “We will have months where the business of daily government will have to grind to a halt, and it will just look like limbo,” said one cabinet minister. “The public aren’t going to forget this.”

Another minister said: “Take something like the defence investment plan, which is already delayed. I can’t see us being able to get that sorted out any time soon.”

Labour needs to have a “battle of ideas”, not of personalities, a minister has said amid ongoing talk of a leadership challenge to replace Sir Keir Starmer.

Speaking at the Progress conference on Saturday morning ahead of Mr Streeting’s appearance, communities minister Alison McGovern said Labour had been left “reeling” from its election defeats last week.

But she also added: “Too often I think we’ve been caught up in the wrong kind of battle. It’s a battle of ideas that’s needed, not a battle of personalities.

“I must be in the top per cent of people in the country most interested in politics, and if all the political news, half low-grade soap opera, half predictable horse race, makes me want to switch off, God knows what anyone just trying to get on with their life thinks.

“So we have to put forward our ideas in a way that’s new, not the old battles of left and right swinging it out, but practical progressive ideas that show our values.”

Andy Burnham intends to stand to be the next MP for Makerfield, but would its voters welcome the ‘King of the North’? The Independent’s Dan Haygarth finds out

The country’s in chaos, isn’t it? It’s just dreadful and Starmer is doing nothing,” says Joan Preston.

“We’d always voted Labour, all of our family. If he were still here, my Dad would be saying to me ‘what do you mean you’re not voting Labour? They’re for the people. They’re for the working people’. Well, Burnham’s for the working people.”

If Mr Burnham is the man to beat Reform at a general election, he will have to prove it here first.

Ms Preston believes the mayor, whose 2024 re-election saw him win in every ward but one in Greater Manchester, certainly is the man to do it.

Mr Prior was a major victory for Nigel Farage’s party, winning a majority in the authority to end 25 years of Conservative control.

Now these councils will be forced to hold by-elections to fill the vacant seats just months after the nationwide local contests, each at a cost that is set to run into the tens of thousands of pounds.

Of the 12 former Reform councillors, 11 are set to cost local taxpayers £287,000 in by-election costs, figures obtained by The Independent through Freedom of Information requests indicate, as the mounting cost of Reform’s inadequate or unprepared candidates is revealed.

The two by-elections triggered by Mr Prior’s resignation are set to cost a further £35,000, estimates provided by Rochford council show, pushing the total figure up to £322,000. Unlike at a general election, which is funded by central government, local election costs are paid for by the authority in which they are held.

Mr Burnham won approval of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) to stand, having previously blocked him from running in February’s by-election in Gorton and Denton, on Friday. The decision comes a day after Josh Simons announced he would quit parliament to make way for the Manchester mayor to run in his seat.

But one hurdle remains in Mr Burnham’s path to Westminster – winning the by-election against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Speculation that Sir Keir could face a challengehas been circling for months, but after days of mounting calls for him to resign following the disastrous Labour election results, candidates have finally begun to make their moves.

Mr Streeting, Mr Burnham and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner have all been widely touted as the most probable challengers to Sir Keir’s premiership, while Al Carns and Ed Miliband have also been named as potential candidates.

Six months earlier he allegedly authored social media posts in which he celebrated a Sikh woman being raped in the Midlands, described Muslim people as “rats” and wrote that white people were the “master race”.

Confronted by the Mirror over the posts ahead of the election, Mr Prior said he “did not recall” the tweets, despite the journalist pointing out that pictures of the candidate’s house and dog also featured in posts from the same account.

The US president claimed Sir Keir, who is facing immense pressure to resign following the fallout of Labour’s disastrous local election results, will struggle to remain in office unless he deals with immigration and energy policy.

Pressed over whether the prime minister can survive, Mr Trump said: “It’s a tough thing unless he can straighten out immigration, where he’s weak, and if he doesn’t start drilling, stop with the windmills all over the place that are causing havoc.”