Lammy dismisses Streeting\u2019s call for UK to rejoin EU as \u2018sixth form\u2019 debating position<\/p>\n
Good morning. Harold Wilson was right; a week is a long time etc etc. Seven days ago, the biggest threat to Keir Starmer was a half-baked challenge from Catherine West. A week on, with Andy Burnham<\/a> on a viable path back to Westminster within the next few weeks, it now seems more likely than not that Burnham will be prime minister by the autumn, perhaps earlier, and that Keir Starmer will be out.<\/p>\n We are likely to hear from Starmer himself this morning. In the meantime, David Lammy, the deputy PM, has been doing a broadcast round. As Peter Walker reports, Lammy has insisted that Starmer is not about to set out a timetable for his departure.<\/p>\n This is the public position. But, in private, Starmer\u2019s position seems to be a bit more nuanced; in his story from yesterday, Kiran Stacey quoted a friend of Starmer\u2019s as saying: \u201c[Starmer\u2019s] position is not \u2018I will stand, come what may\u2019. It depends on what happens, but at the same time it\u2019s about not rushing to positions that might suit particular other factions in the Labour party.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnham is not the only candidate to be next Labour leader. Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, wants the job too and at the weekend he declared that he wanted to see the UK rejoin the EU.<\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s allies interpreted this as a hostile act because it puts Burnham under pressure to either endorse the idea, which won\u2019t be popular in Makerfield, the leave-voting constituency where he wants to fight the byelection, or to distance himself from it (despite the fact that he is on the record as also saying the UK should rejoin eventually<\/a>), which won\u2019t be popular with Labour\u2019s pro-EU membership.<\/p>\n In his interview on the Today programme, Lammy dismissed this a \u201csixth form debate\u201d. Asked about Europe<\/a>, he said that Labour was elected on a manifesto that ruled out joining the single market or the customs union. Asked what should be in the next manifesto, he said he did not want to discuss something that might be three years away. He also said Labour should be focusing on delivery, not on internal arguments.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe have the opportunity of a lifetime to deliver on behalf of the British people. This is not a sixth form debate. It is delivery on behalf of the British people.<\/p>\n Asked what he meant by a sixth form debate, he replied:<\/p>\n double quotation markAcross the country in sixth forms, you can discuss what the position should be on Europe.<\/p>\n Lammy also claimed that Labour could not afford for this sort of internal debate to last much longer.<\/p>\n double quotation markI say to colleagues, 10 days of this fine, I think the British people will forgive us for the introspection. Ten weeks of this and we\u2019re in desperate trouble, we will be out of office, and what will be ushering in is [Nigel] Farage.<\/p>\n In one respect, the \u201csixth form debate\u201d line sounded a patronising way to describe a key question facing Britain\u2019s future. But, in another respect, Lammy was right to argue that debating EU membership now is not particularly relevant. There is no way that Brussels would want to open serious talks on re-entry with a country where there is a strong prospect of Reform UK forming the next government and, as the (pro-British) Polish foreign minister, Rados\u0142aw Sikorski, recently warned<\/a>, EU members think there is no point holding negotiations until the British realise that any future membership deal won\u2019t be as good as the one we had before.<\/p>\n Here is the agenda for the day.<\/p>\n Morning: Keir Starmer<\/a> is expected to speak to the media while on a visit with the new health secretary, James Murray.<\/p>\n 11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.<\/p>\n Lunchtime: Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and potential Labour candidate for Makerfield, is due to speak at the Great North Investment Summit in Leeds.<\/p>\n Early afternoon: Nicola Ranger, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, speaks at the RCN conference.<\/p>\n 2.30pm: MPs resume their debate on the king\u2019s speech, focusing on business.<\/p>\n If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can\u2019t read all the messages BTL, but if you put \u201cAndrew\u201d in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.<\/p>\n If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X<\/a>, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.<\/p>\n I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can\u2019t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.02 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n What law says about why Burnham has to resign as mayor if he wins byelection, but not to stand as candidate<\/p>\n A reader asks:<\/p>\n double quotation markWould Burnham be required to resign the post of mayor to fight a byelection. Or only in the event of winning one?<\/p>\n Only if he wins.<\/p>\n For a full answer, here is a note the Greater Manchester combined authority sent out last week explaining the legal situation.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe mayor of a strategic authority \u2013 as exists in Greater Manchester \u2013 may stand as a candidate in a parliamentary election and be elected as an MP.<\/p>\n There is no legal requirement for the mayor of a strategic authority to resign in order to be a candidate in a parliamentary election.<\/p>\n The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 states that a mayor who also has police and crime commissioner functions is disqualified from being a police and crime commissioner upon being elected as a member of the House of Commons.<\/p>\n As the mayor of Greater Manchester has the police and crime commissioner functions, they would \u2013 if elected as an MP \u2013 become disqualified from being mayor.<\/p>\n At this point a vacancy would arise and a mayoral byelection would take place within 35 working days.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Rayner rejected offer from No 10 to replace Streeting as health secretary, report claims<\/p>\n Angela Rayner was asked by No 10 last week if she would like to replace Wes Streeting as health secretary, the Times reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n In their story, Steven Swinford and Geraldine Scott say:<\/p>\n double quotation markRayner\u2019s team was contacted by No 10 on Thursday after Streeting left the government<\/a> with an extraordinary resignation letter in which he condemned the prime minister\u2019s lack of vision and the \u201cdrift\u201d of his government \u2026<\/p>\n Starmer has repeatedly said that he wanted her to return to his cabinet and the settling of her dispute with HMRC clears a path back to frontline politics.<\/p>\n However, a government source said that Rayner\u2019s allies made clear during discussions on Thursday afternoon that she would not be interested in returning to Starmer\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n Starmer and Rayner did not directly discuss the proposal with each other, the Times says.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Tory deputy chair confirms party will fight Makerfield byelection – despite calls for it stand aside for Reform UK<\/p>\n Matt Vickers, the Conservative party deputy chair, has confirmed that the party will put up a candidate in the Makerfield byelection \u2013 despite some in the party saying it should stand aside for Reform UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a story<\/a> for the Telegraph, Nick Gutteridge and Pieter Snapvengers say Tory HQ has been under pressure to stand down in Makerfield \u2013 in return for Reform UK agreeing to stand down in Aberdeen South, where a byelection is also due and where the Conservative party has a better chance.<\/p>\n Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP and father of the Commons, told the paper:<\/p>\n double quotation markIf doing some kind of deal means we can win Aberdeenshire and save the union then it\u2019s worth doing.<\/p>\n My view is that if at the next general election \u2013 and I\u2019ve said this again and again \u2013 there are two rightwing parties slugging it off in every single constituency, as night follows day there will be a leftwing government.<\/p>\n And if in any by-election there will be two rightwing parties fighting each other then, as night follows day, there will be leftwing victory.<\/p>\n But Vickers told Sky News this morning:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019re going to be putting forward our pitch. The reality is people in Makerfield who want to see the welfare state reduced, so the system actually works for people… those people are going to have a choice on that ballot paper. They can go out there and vote for Kemi Badenoch\u2019s Conservatives.<\/p>\n Local election results suggest Reform UK in theory should be on course to win Makerfield, where Labour\u2019s Josh Simons resigned to free up a seat for Andy Burnham, quite easily. But Burnham is remarkably popular in the Greater Manchester area, and some election experts think that his personal appeal will outweigh the disadvantage of being the Labour candidate. Election Maps UK has produced this forecast<\/a>, based on polling from Gorton and Denton where people were asked, after the byelection, if they would have voted differently if Burnham had been on the ballot.<\/p>\n double quotation markMakerfield By-Election Forecast:<\/p>\n With Burnham:<\/p>\n LAB: 45%<\/p>\n RFM: 42%<\/p>\n Without Burnham:<\/p>\n RFM: 53%<\/p>\n LAB: 27%<\/p>\n Via @Survation<\/p>\n There will be a byelection in Aberdeen South because the SNP\u2019s Stephen Flynn has to give up his seat after being elected to the Scottish parliament. In 2024 Flynn had a majority of 3,758 over Labour, with the Conservative candidate just 155 votes behind.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Andy Burnham photographed going for a morning run today. Photograph: Jon Super\/APShare<\/a>Lammy warns Labour it will ‘usher in Farage’ unless it abandons infighting<\/p>\n In almost all his interviews this morning, David Lammy, the deputy PM, urged Labour to abandon infighting, warning that if the party did not unite, it would pave the way for a Reform UK election victory.<\/p>\n He told Sky News:<\/p>\n double quotation markNow is the time to stop the own goals, to get on the pitch, to pass the ball amongst ourselves, to play in the right direction, to score some goals on behalf of the British public.<\/p>\n Introspection and internecine warfare \u2013 effectively, some of our colleagues lighting the match and standing in the petrol \u2013 that is not what\u2019s going to deliver for the British people.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not what\u2019s going to deliver for the British people. What that will usher in is Farage.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The Labour MP Jonathan Hinder told the Today programme this morning that for Wes Streeting<\/a> to suggest the UK should rejoin the EU was a \u201cstaggering level of out of touch\u201d.<\/p>\n Hinder said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe are just over a week after we took a real beating in our working-class heartlands.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a very long list \u2013 we\u2019re talking about the Hartlepools, the Grimsbys, Barnsley, places like Wigan, where this byelection is going to be, and we were losing to a party [Reform UK] which until recently was called the Brexit party.<\/p>\n And to suggest the solution now is for us to reopen that debate is just staggering, and the Labour party is in an existential crisis, it really is, and the idea that we can reconnect to our working-class base by reopening this debate is just a staggering level of out of touch.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Lammy dismisses Streeting\u2019s call for UK to rejoin EU as \u2018sixth form\u2019 debating position<\/p>\n Good morning. Harold Wilson was right; a week is a long time etc etc. Seven days ago, the biggest threat to Keir Starmer was a half-baked challenge from Catherine West. A week on, with Andy Burnham<\/a> on a viable path back to Westminster within the next few weeks, it now seems more likely than not that Burnham will be prime minister by the autumn, perhaps earlier, and that Keir Starmer will be out.<\/p>\n We are likely to hear from Starmer himself this morning. In the meantime, David Lammy, the deputy PM, has been doing a broadcast round. As Peter Walker reports, Lammy has insisted that Starmer is not about to set out a timetable for his departure.<\/p>\n This is the public position. But, in private, Starmer\u2019s position seems to be a bit more nuanced; in his story from yesterday, Kiran Stacey quoted a friend of Starmer\u2019s as saying: \u201c[Starmer\u2019s] position is not \u2018I will stand, come what may\u2019. It depends on what happens, but at the same time it\u2019s about not rushing to positions that might suit particular other factions in the Labour party.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnham is not the only candidate to be next Labour leader. Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, wants the job too and at the weekend he declared that he wanted to see the UK rejoin the EU.<\/p>\n Burnham\u2019s allies interpreted this as a hostile act because it puts Burnham under pressure to either endorse the idea, which won\u2019t be popular in Makerfield, the leave-voting constituency where he wants to fight the byelection, or to distance himself from it (despite the fact that he is on the record as also saying the UK should rejoin eventually<\/a>), which won\u2019t be popular with Labour\u2019s pro-EU membership.<\/p>\n In his interview on the Today programme, Lammy dismissed this a \u201csixth form debate\u201d. Asked about Europe<\/a>, he said that Labour was elected on a manifesto that ruled out joining the single market or the customs union. Asked what should be in the next manifesto, he said he did not want to discuss something that might be three years away. He also said Labour should be focusing on delivery, not on internal arguments.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe have the opportunity of a lifetime to deliver on behalf of the British people. This is not a sixth form debate. It is delivery on behalf of the British people.<\/p>\n Asked what he meant by a sixth form debate, he replied:<\/p>\n double quotation markAcross the country in sixth forms, you can discuss what the position should be on Europe.<\/p>\n Lammy also claimed that Labour could not afford for this sort of internal debate to last much longer.<\/p>\n double quotation markI say to colleagues, 10 days of this fine, I think the British people will forgive us for the introspection. Ten weeks of this and we\u2019re in desperate trouble, we will be out of office, and what will be ushering in is [Nigel] Farage.<\/p>\n In one respect, the \u201csixth form debate\u201d line sounded a patronising way to describe a key question facing Britain\u2019s future. But, in another respect, Lammy was right to argue that debating EU membership now is not particularly relevant. There is no way that Brussels would want to open serious talks on re-entry with a country where there is a strong prospect of Reform UK forming the next government and, as the (pro-British) Polish foreign minister, Rados\u0142aw Sikorski, recently warned<\/a>, EU members think there is no point holding negotiations until the British realise that any future membership deal won\u2019t be as good as the one we had before.<\/p>\n Here is the agenda for the day.<\/p>\n Morning: Keir Starmer<\/a> is expected to speak to the media while on a visit with the new health secretary, James Murray.<\/p>\n 11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.<\/p>\n Lunchtime: Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and potential Labour candidate for Makerfield, is due to speak at the Great North Investment Summit in Leeds.<\/p>\n Early afternoon: Nicola Ranger, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, speaks at the RCN conference.<\/p>\n 2.30pm: MPs resume their debate on the king\u2019s speech, focusing on business.<\/p>\n If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can\u2019t read all the messages BTL, but if you put \u201cAndrew\u201d in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.<\/p>\n If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X<\/a>, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.<\/p>\n I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can\u2019t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.<\/p>\n