On the House of Commons terrace, Labour MPs were in a jubilant mood. As they bought each other pints, some kept a watchful eye on the door that leads from the bar to the Thames-side sun trap.
Conversations about Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation on Monday morning were discussed in the manner reserved for a late but distant relative: respectful and brief. MPs craned their necks looking out for one man to join their celebrations: Andy Burnham, prime minister in all but name.
“We need an injection of positivity,” a minister remarked the following day. Inspired by Boris Johnson’s boosterism, they joked it was now the time to tell people to “spend more and shag more.”
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The UK has one of the most stable electricity grids in the world.
But no country’s energy system is 100 per cent secure and large-scale blackouts, although rare, are possible.
Here’s how to prepare, and what could happen, if we do have a blackout.
The immediate effects
If the UK’s power went down tomorrow, these are the ways it is likely to impact you first.
You’d get stuck in lifts, wherever you are in the lift shaft.
Trains would be stopped as the signals depend on electricity.
Traffic lights would stop working on the roads – leading to congestion or crashes.
Contactless payments are likely to fail.
Your Wi-Fi at home would stop working and communication becomes difficult.
Fridges and freezers will turn off – unless you have a standalone generator – and food will spoil over time.
Hospitals and water treatment works have their own backup generators so will keep going until their supply runs out.
How transport would be affected
Caption: This photograph taken on April 29, 2026 shows people charging their electric vehicles at a charging station in Kathmandu. As global fuel markets reel from the Middle East war, motorists in Nepal are increasingly turning to electric vehicles, with high demand putting a strain on dealerships. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP via Getty Images) / TO GO WITH ‘Nepal-Transport-Automobile-Energy’ FOCUS
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For EV owners that are already on the road, Professor Keith Bell, who works in electricity planning, recommends that those with an EV with reasonable charge use it as a generator, like your own store of electricity.
In the case of the power system going down, petrol isn’t a totally safe option as queues at petrol stations could be huge and places are likely to run out of fuel.
The longer term effects
The longer the power takes to return the worse things are likely to get. In 2021 Storm Arwen physically damaged power lines across the UK.
Without nuclear to take the strain, that exposure to gas is costing us dear (Photo: Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty)
Caption: FILE PHOTO: A row of electricity pylons is seen near the Frodsham on shore wind farm in Frodsham, Britain, September 5, 2023. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo
Photographer: Phil Noble
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During the 1977 New York blackout, which lasted 25 hours, there was civil unrest, resulting in widespread looting and arson, although intense heatwaves are thought to have exacerbated the situation.
Things to buy now to prepare
The Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency took over the BBC’s radio frequency in Lebanon (Photo: Getty)
Battery radio
To get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, but in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.
Bottled water
A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended.
Caption: Plastic bottle with clean water on a blue background.
Photographer: SimpleImages
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Moment RF
A Cuban rides his bike during a nation wide blackout in Havana on 21 March (Photo: Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty)
Wind-up torch
The Government recommends opting for torches over candles, for safety reasons.
How to prepare
A blackout is unlikely but we should make small changes.
If possible, don’t let your petrol tank run down to almost empty. Keep it over half full so you’re never caught short.
Always have a portable power bank, and spare batteries, to charge your phone and other essentials.
As card machines could fail, keep some cash at home.
To keep yourself distracted and entertained, keep board games and a pack of cards handy to play.
Eight easy ways to stop
your child spending summer glued to their devices
Not all screen time is bad
Using screens in a way that benefits your child’s development is key and balancing educational content and entertainment with offline activities ensures a well-rounded routine.
DR GUMMER
How to keep your kids off screens
Outdoor activities
For younger children, try scavenger hunts, garden games and nature walks. For older ones, hikes
and biking trips.
Create a schedule
Designated screen-free times helps children develop a routine that balances screen use with other activities.
Caption: Mid adult man with eyeglasses sitting on a comfortable sofa at home, thoughtfully writing notes in a small notebook while natural sunlight illuminates the room
Photographer: Milan Markovic
Provider: Getty Images
Source: E+
Family game nights
It’s an excellent way
to bond and develop critical thinking skills.
How to keep your kids off screens
Creative hobbies
Getting creative, through drawing, painting or model construction, enhances cognitive skills and offers an alternative to screens.
Social interaction
Arrange playdates or group activities with friends, or for older kids try an overnight camping trip in the garden.
How to keep your kids off screens
Lead by example
Showing that you value offline time encourages your children to do the same.
Have a reward
Implement a reward system where screen time is earned through positive behaviour.
Open conversations
Discuss the importance of balancing screen time with your children so they understand the reasons behind the rules.
Can following a particular diet
help prevent or delay dementia?
Some studies suggest so.
These are the eight brain-boosting foods registered dietitian Fareeha Jay
recommends people consume as part of a weekly diet…
Foods that can cut dementia risk
Caption: A detail of cracked egg falling into the pan as woman holds egg shells in both hands.
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Source: Moment RF
Eggs
They contain several nutrients thought to support brain health, including choline, vitamin B12 and iodine.
Coffee
Caffeine can reduce inflammation and
slow the degeneration
of brain cells.
Barista hand making cappuccino Coffee with espresso machine in cafe – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Cooking fruit and vegetables (Photor: GMVozd/Getty Images/E+)
Broccoli
It’s packed with antioxidants and high in vitamin K, which is essentially for healthy brain cells.
Fibre is overlooked in dementia prevention
Caption: Cookie jar, tea, wine, nuts, books, lit candles and Christmas decorations on the table. Cozy Christmas hygge at home. Selective focus.
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To increase fibre intake, include wholegrains, nuts, seeds, lentils, and legumes.
Fermented foods also support brain health by improving the gut microbiome.
LIFESTYLE
4 min read
Foods that can cut dementia risk
(Photo: Joff Lee/Getty Images)
Oily fish
Your brain uses Omega-3s to build brain and nerve cells – so a diet rich in them may slow age-related mental decline.
Walnuts
These improve heart health markers, which is linked to a lower risk of neurological disorders.
Health professionals are nuts about nuts – with good reason!
Supermarkets report increasing demand for blueberries (Photo: RHS/Guy Harrop)
Blueberries
They contain compounds which have been shown to improve blood flow to the brain, cognitive function, and memory.
The Mind diet
The diet aims to reduce dementia risk and the decline in brain health.
It was created in 2015 by Dr Martha Clare Morris and colleagues at Rush University Medical Centre and the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.
It encourages vegetables, berries, nuts, whole grains, olive oil, fish, beans, and poultry.
These foods contain nutrients that promote good brain health by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation.
The Midlife MOT is open to all and covers three key areas: work, wealth and well-being (Photo: Westend61/Getty)
Feeling insecure at work
in your 50s? You’re not alone
The final decades of work
There’s this assumption about being put out to pasture… but now that we’re living and working longer, we have to challenge myths around ageing and remember that over-50s are a crucial part of the workforce…
LYNDSEY SIMPSON, AUTHOR OF AGE REBELLION AND FOUNDER OF 55/REDEFINED
The current situation
By 2030, almost half of all employees in the UK workforce will be over 50.
36%
Now one in three workers are over 50.
Yet more than a third of those between 50 and 69 believe that their age puts them at a disadvantage when they apply for jobs.
37%
The Age Without Limits study from 2024 shows that 37 per cent of workers between 51 to 70 felt badly treated in work because of their age.
The things to do, says Simpson
More and more people are using AI for counselling (Photo: Oscar Wong/Getty/Moment RF)
Keep learning new skills
We need the same level of career planning in
our fifties as our twenties. It’s possible to reinvent yourself again.
Embrace technology
It’s nonsense that older people can’t pick up how to use new tech.
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Think about money
Do you need a pay rise? Could you trade some of that money you earn, to work a bit less, and do more things you enjoy?
The things not to do
Become full-time childcare
Grandparenting on the horizon? If you don’t want to do childcare, have the conversation early – even before a child becomes pregnant – that you plan to continue working and love your job.
Caption: Indoor image of thoughtful puzzled senior woman with gray hair in glasses looking at paycheck holding head in hand, upset with high rent charge, sitting at kitchen table in front of laptop
Photographer: shurkin_son
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Grandparents and granddaughter gardening together – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Accept redundancy too quickly
It’s going to be so much harder to get back into work if you don’t have a plan before you take that leap.
The things not to do
Rush into retirement
Senior bed woman problem pain headache home elderly mature pain bedroom upset unhappy female caucasian adult relationship retirement old difficulty ache head sick migraine hangover sleep – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Everybody thinks early retirement is the dream but the reality can be different. There can be loneliness, lack of purpose and a sense of invisibility.
LIFESTYLE
5 min read
By November, UK food prices will be 50 per cent higher than they were at the start of the cost-of-living crisis
With that in mind, food editor Sophie Morris shares how she saves money on her weekly shop
Easy ways to save on the weekly shop
Caption: NORTHWICH, ENGLAND – JULY 06: Whole chicken sit on display in a Tesco supermarket on July 06, 2022 in Northwich, England. The British Retail Consortium recently said food manufacturers and supermarkets are having to pass on some of the cost of soaring raw materials to consumers, leading to the price of basic goods throughout the UK rising at the fastest pace since September 2008. Fresh food prices increased by 6% in the year to June 2022 coupled with an increase in inflation, and fuel and energy prices to create a cost of living crisis. This is leading to millions of low-income households going without essentials items, falling behind on bills and taking on debt. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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Avoid chicken breast
Boneless chicken thighs are all meat and a much tastier product.
Don’t plan everything
If you plan every meal all week, there’s no leeway for necessary last-minute changes of plan (or leftovers).
Man Cooking By Woman Chopping Carrots In Kitchen – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Governments are not all powerful when it comes to huge international forces like those increasing global food prices (Photo: Oscar Wong/Getty Images/Moment RF)
Shop alone
There are so many products that children want to fill the trolley with – all kinds of exciting eye candy. It’s cheaper to go alone.
Easy ways to save on the weekly shop
Consider a vegetable box delivery
Having a Riverford box delivery helps Morris avoid impulse buys and go to the shops
less – even though the box is pricey. “It is expensive, but of great quality and organic”.
Milk and potatoes prices are expected to increases sharply later this year, say supply chain experts (Photo: Kate Wieser/Getty)
Low carb, FODMAP diet food background with vegetables, fruits, smoked salmon, chicken fillet, greens, nuts, olives. Menu for healthy eating . – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Track your spending
It doesn’t need to be an elaborate spreadsheet but without some kind of metric, it’s impossible to spot where you
can or must make cutbacks.
Easy ways to save on the weekly shop
The supermarket loyalty schemes vary in their generosity (Photo: Paul Childs/Reuters)
Look for yellow stickers
You can save plenty
over a year by never buying branded products at full price.
Take stock
Do a quick cupboard stocktake. You might find you already have three jars of one thing.
Mid-Adult Couple Calculating Their Finances On The Laptop In The Kitchen – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
“Soft restrictions” aren’t infallible; we can always make the effort to get a ladder and get the biscuit tin down from the highest shelf (Photo: Getty)
Avoid packaged snacks
Packing fruit, biscuits, and nuts etc into a Tupperware to take out is more cost effective than buying tiny packaged portions.
Easy ways to save on the weekly shop
Be wary of DIY treats
“Faking” a takeaway at home can sound like a cheaper option, but if it’s something you don’t usually cook – that needs new ingredients – it could work out pricier.
Whatever you buy, buy British if you can. That will help boost fishermen’s finances (Photo: Betty Laura Zapata/Getty)
Caption: A customer looks at packages of chilled chicken cuts in a part-empty refrigerated display unit at a Lidl supermarket store in Walthamstow, west London, on September 21, 2021. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: TOLGA AKMEN
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Do you need it now?
Returning a few things to the shelves that you won’t need in the near future can save you a healthy amount.
Skip a shop
Every time you make do with what’s at home,
you save big.
Supermarkets will find ways of holding down the price of the basics, and try to make their money on the fancy lines (Photo: Roy James Shakespeare/Getty)
Easy ways to save on
the weekly shop
Try a week or a month of shopping local,
and you might be surprised at the results,
in terms of cost and other benefits like supporting local businesses, and
avoiding car journeys and traffic.
Defenders of the triple Lock point to the fact pensioners are often asset-rich and income-poor. (Photo: Getty)
Go shopping when you’re not in a huge rush so you can make relaxed and informed decisions. Don’t expect to stick to your plan or make great choices when you’re in a hurry.
I’ve been a cleaner for 30 years – these are the 10 products I swear by
Rebecca Jones has tried most cleaning products in her
decades-long career.
She shares the ones she can’t
live without.
The 10 best cleaning products
Best vacuum
Henry is a classic.
It has fantastic filters, sucks up pet hair quickly, and is great at cleaning up fine dust.
Best mop and bucket
The Vileda H2PrO set is light, manoeuvrable and keeps clean and dirty water separate.
A reader has asked whether or not she should sack her cleaner because she isn’t doing a good job anymore (Photo: stock image of a man cleaning a window via Getty Images)
Best glass cleaner
The HG Glass and
Mirror cleaner removes stains without leaving smudges or streaks.
The 10 best cleaning products
Best multipurpose cleaner
Method’s multi-surface cleaner is plant-based, cruelty-free, and works great on grease, sinks, sealed wood surfaces, hobs, bins and sealed laminated floors.
Deep cleaning glass door handles for Covid-19 disease prevention. alcohol,disinfectant spray on Wipes of Banister in home for safety,infection of Covid-19 virus,contamination, germs – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Best toilet brush
Unlike a regular toilet brush, nothing gets stuck in the bristles of Ibergrif M34152 Silicone brush. It also dries quickly, so
there’s less odour.
The 10 best cleaning products
Best mould remover
Jones uses the HG Mould Spray on walls, tiles, grout, windows and outdoor furniture.
(Photo: boonchai wedmakawand/Getty/Moment RF)
Best cloths
The Seep Eco Bamboo clothes have a streak-free finish and last.
Best carpet cleaner
Every home should have a bottle of Dr Beckmann’s stain remover, says Jones.
Caption: Dr Beckmann Power Brush Stain Remover
Image from https://www.dr-beckmann.co.uk/products/pre-wash-stain-devils/
The 10 best cleaning products
Best stain remover
The Mr Siga Multi-Functional Eraser Sponge acts like fine sandpaper to lift
dirt, stains, and scuffs using only water.
(Photo: Viktoriya Skorikova/Getty Images/Moment RF)
Best kept secret
Jones uses Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser to polish stainless-steel, scour sinks and clean her fridge and cookware.
Around 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 are classed as NEET ie. not in Education, Employment or Training
But as youth unemployment rises, not all companies
are looking to universities to find their new recruits. Meet the people who have benefitted.
Poorer graduates will be hit hardest by the changes, the National Union of Students says (Photo: Andrew Fox/Getty/Image Bank)
For young people unable to attend uni
My whole life was being a carer, so I was very lost…
From the age of around 10, Bruce Devlin took responsibility for everything at home – from administering his mother’s medication, to doing the shopping, cooking, cleaning and supporting his mother’s mental health.
He scraped through school, leaving with the lowest grades.
Now, aged 26, he has secured a job by pursuing an unconventional route.
The charities helping them
Bruce followed an unconventional route.
Getting a foot in the door seemed impossible with his qualifications, lack of experience and connections.
His Job Centre work coach put him in touch with Generation, a non-profit which partners with companies to identify roles which they are struggling to fill.
He landed a place on Generation’s first IT support boot camp and benefited from CV and interview coaching.
Bruce is now a level three senior quality engineer with 2i Testing, a company which tests other companies’ software.
The result
Getting a full-time salary and being a contributing member of society is an amazing achievement. Without this, I’d be just another person on jobseeker’s allowance, wasting any potential I had.
BRUCE DEVLIN, 26, GLASGOW
The apprenticeship route
Jessica Andrea Carvalho had an offer to start a media and marketing degree but she rejected it at the last minute to avoid huge debt and years of classroom learning.
Avoiding increasing
NEET numbers
Young woman at her first job interview with the owner of a coffee shop – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
Generation placed 700 people
like Bruce in jobs last year.
The number of placements has jumped 20 per cent from last year.
42 per cent of their learners come from the UK’s most deprived areas.
Big Read
10 min read
Plan 5 applies to students who began university courses on or after August 2023
(Photo: Abraham Gonzalez Fernandez/Getty Images/
Source: Moment RF)
What do employers think?
Creating more routes in is not just about opportunity – it helps bring in talent with different experiences.
Paula Cunnington, the chief talent officer for Publicis Groupe UK, a network of marketing agencies that has hired 79 apprentices, says curiosity and real-world experience are far better indicators of future success.
Up to 75 per cent of us in the UK are not drinking enough water.
The human body can survive for a time without food, but it cannot survive for long without water.
Here are the signs you need more fluids, according to a GP.
How much we should drink
Water is the most vital component for life.
6-8
NHS guidelines advise we should be drinking six to eight glasses of fluid per day.
This does vary depending on our activity levels, the weather, and if we are ill.
80%
An estimated 50-80 per cent of our bodies and brains being made up of water.
It allows us to deliver nutrients to cells in our blood, lubricates our joints, regulates our temperature and much more.
How to stay hydrated
What to drink
Not all fluids are the same – water takes top spot, as it hydrates without sugars or calories, but lower-fat milks, sugar-free drinks or moderate amounts of tea and coffee can all count towards fluid intake.
Caption: Asian girl grocery shopping in supermarket. She is choosing fresh fruit juice along the beverage aisle, reading the nutrition label and checking ingredients on the bottle. Making a healthier food choice and balanced diet. Healthy eating lifestyle
Photographer: d3sign
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Moment RF
A reader bemoans that his children spend money on fancy coffees and holidays with friends, never having a penny left each month
(Photo: Getty/Gorica Poturak)
What to avoid
Limit smoothies and fruit juices to 150ml per day because the sugar causes dental decay.
Signs you’re not drinking enough
1. Our brains
The pain from migraines is sometimes described as feeling like you’ve had an axe blow to the head (Photo: Getty)
When dehydrated, we can display an exaggerated response to pain and experience headaches. Concentration, attention, reaction times and short-term memory can also all be negatively impacted.
LIFESTYLE
6 min read
Signs you’re not drinking enough
2. Our bodies
Another common sign of dehydration is constipation. Our skin can look duller, be less bouncy to the touch and be less elastic.
Tired Asian businesswoman working on a laptop computer in the office – stock photo. (Photo: Getty)
(Photo: Ekaterina Demidova/Getty).
3. Our psychology
Research has shown that even mild dehydration can lead us to feel more moody, stressed and irritable. We can also feel more tired than usual, with less energy and motivation.
They were Labour scenes not seen perhaps since the party assumed power for the first time in 14 years, just shy of two years ago. Then, pollsters and commentators warned their landslide was soft, and that the huge number of Labour MPs could prove difficult to manage.
Both were correct.
‘Togetherness in the air’ – but for how long?
So while Labour was undeniably cheerful – one MP gushed that colleagues from all wings of the party were “embracing each other, hugging” – some are already warning that Burnham will not be able to hold the party together. The economic and political cracks are already starting to show.
“Keir’s wide but shallow coalition broke down not just because of all the U-turns and the mistakes but because of the underlying structural issues, the economy and the impatience of voters for change,” a Labour source said.
In Parliament there may be a feeling of “togetherness in their air”, as Burnham-backing MP Luke Charters puts it, but some of divisions that contributed to Starmer’s demise have not vanished overnight.
Dozens of Labour MPs – including Cabinet ministers – welcomed Burnham to Parliament after his swearing-in (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty)
MPs who will never get a government job but aren’t in Westminster just to be voting fodder; ambitious big beasts who will inevitably lose out on big jobs; upstart challengers; a difficult economy; lack of money and a huge benefits bill will all remain problems.
‘A period of silence from male colleagues would be welcome’
There was rage in the wider women’s Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) at a remark in The Spectator magazine on Thursday, for example. It quoted a “senior Labour figure” who described Burnham as “Labour’s first female prime minister” because he surrounded himself with women.
Dubbed the “Northern Queens” by admirers, his key lieutenants include former transport secretary Louise Haigh, Labour’s union co-ordinator Anneliese Midgley, the party’s deputy leader Lucy Powell, and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
“A period of silence from our male colleagues is always welcome,” Labour MP Polly Billington remarked on a private WhatsApp Group. “Now more than ever.”
And while Burnham is expected to be announced as Labour leader in three weeks, with a trip to the Palace to greet the King shortly afterwards, there are still some hurdles for him to jump.
Former Armed Forces minister Al Carns – who resigned from Starmer’s Government over defence spending – has set out five tests for any new leader and has continued to insist he could launch a challenge against Burnham, a threat no one in Westminster is taking seriously because of Carns’s limited support among MPs.
‘Huge agenda-setting decisions’
The Labour left will also be watching closely to see how Burnham’s plans align with its more radical agenda.
One left-wing Labour MP, who would have preferred a leadership contest, gave Burnham a long to-do list including fixing youth joblessness, issuing “transformative” economic policies, and planning “big political reform”.
“So apart from those little things, I’m completely unambitious,” they joked.
Ultimately, they said the red line for withdrawing support would be if Burnham fails to “fulfil the promises he made to the people of Makerfield”, which included rethinking trickle-down economics and shifting political power away from London.
“The working people of Makerfield voted in big numbers for Andy rather than Reform because they thought he would change the way the country operates, and therefore, he’s given rise to these expectations,” they said.
Another Labour MP said more than half of their colleagues would like to see a Burnham premiership “go further” in the Government’s support for Gaza. Last year, the UK formally recognised the state of Palestine, but there has been mounting pressure on ministers to issue further support, especially after Labour saw losses in last month’s local elections to the pro-Palestine Greens.
A Labour MP also pointed out that “huge, agenda-setting and defining decisions” over defence and energy security will land on the new prime minister’s desk on day one.
Starmer’s downfall was nailed in after the Defence Investment Plan triggered the resignation of defence secretary John Healey following a months-long row over funding. Ministers are still hoping to find extra cash before Starmer attends the Nato summit in Ankara next month. But Burnham will be under pressure to find billions more.
Who will be chancellor?
Who Burnham picks as chancellor and the question of whether they can drive economic growth has fixated Westminster all week.
The i Paper understands Burnham has not yet decided the resident of No 11, although the three frontrunners are Ed Miliband, Shabana Mahmood and Wes Streeting, with Rachel Reeves expected to be offered a demotion.
Each has their backers and their detractors among MPs, because of the economic principles they hold.
Burnham has no plans to announce any Cabinet picks before he has been confirmed as Labour leader – likely to be on 17 July – for fear of looking presumptuous. James Purnell, a former minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is expected to start work as chief of staff next week, and discussions about policy and personnel will accelerate, allies said.
Since his arrival on Monday, Burnham has spent the week locked in meetings and touring the tearoom greeting Labour MPs.
“He has been out of Westminster for nearly a decade and out of the bubble. The reality of the bubble has hit home,” one ally remarked. “As a team we have been in a pressure cooker and the 40-degree heat in the tiny offices has only emphasised that.”
Burnham’s charm offensive
In a borrowed office in Portcullis House, Burnham spoke to “dozens” of MPs from Monday to Wednesday, focusing on those he has not met before in the 2024 intake and hearing policy ideas, along with constituency pleas for a bridges and train stations. “He was in listening mode,” an ally said.
By Thursday he was back in Makerfield to spend his weekend in the constituency to help campaign for Bev Craig, Labour’s candidate to replace him as mayor of Greater Manchester.
From left, Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell; Bev Craig, the party’s candidate for Greater Manchester mayor, Burnham and Angela Rayner at a campaign event at Radcliffe Football Club. Craig is currently leader of Manchester City Council (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty)
He will also be polishing off his keynote speech on the economy to be delivered in Manchester on Monday. “He likes to write them himself,” an ally said.
Some of Miliband’s team have fed into the speech but the current Energy Secretary is “by no means the co-author,” an ally insists. It is likely to focus on how Manchester’s economic growth can be replicated across the country and will not set out any big fiscal measures.
The speech is likely to include a long section about devolved powers, including the possibility of local mayors setting their own business rates.
But a government minister said they doubt Burnham can bring the change he has promised, saying: “There are no clever ways of doing things within the fiscal rules. If there were a unicorn when it comes to the economy, we would have caught it by now.”
Stress-test before entry to No 10
And while a growing number of Labour MPs are getting behind the former Greater Manchester mayor, some are doing so begrudgingly amid concerns his ideas have not been widely tested or do not have a mandate from the public.
A Starmer loyalist, who was supportive of a challenge to Burnham from Darren Jones before that fizzled out, suggested they wanted to stress-test the former mayor’s policies before he gets the keys to No 10.
Jones – Starmer’s Chief Secretary – confirmed earlier this week he would not stand in a Labour leadership contest after a “reassuring conversation” with Burnham over economic plans, putting the Makerfield MP one step closer to becoming prime minister. “We are the only guardrails left before Andy takes up the job in No 10,” the Labour MP said.
Others are concerned all wings of the party are represented at a senior level. One female MP on the party’s soft left said: “Keir has had good diversity on the front bench in terms of women, LGBT and ethnicity, but there hasn’t been political diversity. In fact, there’s been a culture of fear where people haven’t been able to speak out.”
She said: “I’m hopeful Andy will be different,” adding that a wider group of voices would make for “better policy”.
‘Weight lifted from my shoulders’
The left-wing MP Clive Lewis emphasised this in an interivew on the BBC Radio 4’s A Week in Westminster. “There is a weight lifted off of my shoulders after the last seven years because, frankly, I didn’t expect that I was going to be able to stand at the next election,” he said.
“I think there were lots of people on the left of the party who thought that we would be kicked out. And that’s a political culture, a toxic political culture, which I think Keir Starmer oversaw.
“Andy is going to have to make some tough choices. He is going to have to say no to people. He is going to have to pick some fights. But those fights will be instructive because if you actually want to change the 40-year settlement that we’ve just had, then that means some people are going to lose out. I don’t think it’s going to be plain sailing. It will be difficult “
An emotional Sir Keir Starmer announces his resignation as prime minister and leader of the Labour Party outside No 10 (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty)
Labour grandee Lord Falconer, on the same programme, added: “I think what the country has lacked over the last two years is strong, distinct leadership for the country. And Andy has a political personality, he has a personality as well, which the public will be able to relate to. In a way, it’s been maybe harder to relate to Keir.”
After his emotional resignation speech on Monday, Starmer has spent the week meeting foreign leaders and promoting tax breaks for summer days out. On Monday he held a party for supporters in the No 10 garden. It felt “a bit like a weird wedding, with everyone dressed nice”, one attendee observed. They said the mood was decidedly British, with partygoers “happy to reminisce and have a good time”.
For now, after months of gloom under the outgoing PM, Labour MPs are simply happy to remind themselves they have a winner in Burnham. But remembering also, that they thought they had a winner in Starmer.