Tag Archives: general election

Exclusive: Andy Burnham Should Call An Election Before It’s Too Late, Says Former Labour Adviser

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Andy Burnham should call an early general election before his popularity inevitably begins to decline, according to a former Labour adviser.

Liz Bates, who served in Keir Starmer’s government, said the prime minister should go to the polls because “it’s probably not going to get better than this” for him.

Labour has enjoyed a bounce in the polls since Burnham replaced Starmer in No.10 last month, leading to speculation that the new PM may be tempted to call an election to secure his own five-year mandate.

However, he appeared to rule out such a move last month, saying: “I don’t think people want it.”

Nevertheless, Bates – who was a special adviser to former housing secretary Steve Reed before he was sacked by Burnham – insisted he should keep the option on the table.

Speaking to HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast, she said: “Whilst he is popular, and people like him and he’s brand new, and we have the Burnham bounce and he’s shiny and different, everything seems ok.

“When the pressure starts to come on, and you have to make difficult decisions and you go through tough periods – and there will be tough periods, there always is in British politics – then these questions of mandate really start to fester.

“The pressure to have an election starts to come on and it gets pretty intense.”

Bates added: “I would be tempted, if I was him, to go for it because you get the new manager bounce, Farage is looking bonkers to be honest … the Greens seem to be in a bit of a tricky spot as well.

“It’s probably not going to get better than this [for Burnham]. They will think it’s going to get better than this because it feels like ‘we’re great, we’re better than Keir, look at us’.

“When things get tough and the pressure comes on to have a general election, if you’re down in the polls at that point, all your options narrow. I would do it when things feel sunny and positive.”

Her comments echo those of former Theresa May pollster James Johnson, who this week said an election by next spring is Burnham’s best chance of securing his own Commons majority, defeating Reform and all-but destroying the Tories.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Bates – who is also a former Channel 4 and Sky News journalist – fights back tears as she recalls the day she and other government advisers were told in No.10 that Starmer was resigning.

She also reveals that supporters of the former PM were told to wear sunglasses and stand at the back of the crowd if they thought they would cry when he gave his farewell speech in Downing Street.

You can listen to the full interview below, or just download it from wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

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No, Labour Has Not Said It Might Delay The Next General Election

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The Labour Party chair sparked a row on Sunday with her response after she was asked on live TV if the government would delay the next general election.

The government is currently facing intense backlash over offering to postpone local in 63 councils next year.

Ministers claim this would help local authorities who are struggling with the administrative effort of setting up a voting system while also implementing Labour’s plans to abolish two-tier councils.

However, that would mean some local authorities will have been in place for up to seven years without facing voters.

Critics claim this delay is politically motivated, and that Labour is hoping Reform will fall in the polls by the time these councils actually go to the ballot box – although the government has rejected such allegations.

Sky presenter Trevor Phillips asked Labour chair Anna Turley on Sunday if Labour intended to postpone the next general election beyond 2029, too.

But doing so would require breaching the law.

Turley immediately said: “No, not at all. We are undertaking the biggest change to local government in 50 years and that takes time.”

But Phillips pushed: “If I were interviewing someone in Latin America or Africa, and they said to me what you’ve just said to me, you’d already be saying, ‘banana republic,’ speechifying about the dangers of authoritarianism.”

He then suggested Labour could use its plans to also reform the House of Lords as a reason to “put off a general election in 2029”.

Turley said: “We’ve still got a huge amount of elections coming up this year in Scotland, in Wales, all of London, we’ve got a huge amount of elections coming up in May…”

Phillips said: “So even if things are difficult and there is reorganisation of Westminster, as I say, you promised to get rid of the House of Lords, there is going to be no delay on general election?”

She said work to get rid of hereditary peers is ongoing, and general elections “always come at the decision of the prime minister”.

The presenter replied: “What I’m not hearing is that this Labour government can’t see any circumstances by which you would choose to do what you’ve done in local authorities and delay a general election, which, I’ve got to say, I’m finding surprising, that you can’t just say, ’no general election will go beyond the five-year term.”

She replied: “Of course a general election will come.

“The House of Lords isn’t elected. So I’m a bit confused as to why House of Lords reform would impact on a general election. There are no plans for a change to the general election.”

Her comments sparked major backlash from political opponents, with ex Tory prime minister Liz Truss calling her remarks “sinister” and Conservative MP Alicia Kearns wrote on X: “Either there is a terrifying reality where they’ve discussed delaying it… or Turley is terrified she won’t take the ‘right line’ and be punished… which is everything the public hates.

“This was simple. There was only one answer: of course we won’t delay the next general election. And they better not.”

But Turley also later told Times Radio this had been a “misunderstanding”.

“He was talking about House of Lords reform, which is not going to affect the general election at all,” she said. “There’s no change to the general election.

“The law is very clear. We will have a general election by 2029. That won’t change. I’m not quite sure where he was going with that, I’m afraid.”

Governments can call snap elections before their five-year term is up but they cannot extend their time in office beyond that, according to law.

The maximum time a parliament can sit is five years from the day on which it first meets.

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Reform UK’s Chairman Claims Party Will Take Up To 400 Seats At Next General Election

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Reform UK’s chairman has claimed his party will secure between 350 and 400 MPs at the next general election.

That would equate to a landslide victory and would be just a few seats short of the majority of 412 Labour secured in July.

It would also be a world away from the five MPs Reform returned seven months ago.

But, speaking about his party’s astonishing rise, Zia Yusuf told the BBC’s Radio 4′s Political Thinking podcast he thinks Reform “will win between 350 and 400 members of parliament” at the next election, which has to be held before August 2029.

It comes after Reform came out on top of a YouGov poll of voting intentions earlier this week, with 25% compared to Labour’s 24% and the Tories’ 21%.

Another pollster, Find Out Now, claimed on Thursday that Reform had a four-point lead over the other two main parties on 29%, while Labour had 25% and the Tories lagged behind on 18%.

The findings are another boost for Reform’s leader Nigel Farage – who already claims to be the “official opposition” to the government – and will worry Labour and Tory quarters ahead of the local elections in May.

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Find Out Now voting intention:
🟦 Reform UK: 29% (+2)
🔴 Labour: 25% (+2)
🔵 Conservatives: 18% (-3)
🟠 Lib Dems: 13% (+2)
🟢 Greens: 10% (-)

Changes from 27th January
[Find Out Now, 5th February, N=2,487] pic.twitter.com/he05V9LJa2

— Find Out Now (@FindoutnowUK) February 6, 2025

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Find Out Now voting intention:
🟦 Reform UK: 29% (+2)
🔴 Labour: 25% (+2)
🔵 Conservatives: 18% (-3)
🟠 Lib Dems: 13% (+2)
🟢 Greens: 10% (-)

Changes from 27th January
[Find Out Now, 5th February, N=2,487] pic.twitter.com/he05V9LJa2

— Find Out Now (@FindoutnowUK) February 6, 2025

Yusuf also took aim at the Conservatives, telling the BBC: “History will judge Boris Johnson as one of the most damaging prime ministers in this country’s history.”

He said the increase in net migration during Johnson’s time in office was “a total betrayal of everybody who voted for Brexit”.

He added: “He took public spending close to Soviet Union spending. So there was nothing Conservative about him.”

His comments are particularly cutting considering Reform – when it was known as the Brexit Party – chose not to contest 317 Tory-won seats in the 2019 general election so as not to split the Leave vote.

Boris Johnson went on to win a landslide victory and the Brexit Party did not secure a single seat in the Commons.

Yusuf addressed worries about the world’s richest man and Donald Trump’s new informal advisor, Elon Musk, donating up to $100m to Reform, too.

“I can understand those concerns. We’re going to play by the rules,” he said.

Pressed on whether his party would accept any donations from the tech magnate, Yusuf said: “Who knows if he will or if he won’t, but if was to make a donation and it was within the rules and it helped us win, then why not?”

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