Pressure grows on Starmer to step aside for Burnham – UK politics live

Jess Phillips, who quit as safeguarding minister last month , said Andy Burnham has “proved his hypothesis” that he could beat Reform in a constituency where many expected Reform to do very well.

“He beat off Reform absolutely soundly in an area that absolutely should have been delivered to Reform and if anyone else had stood there, we would not be having this conversation now,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I think he has earned the right to come and make his case to the parliamentary Labour party.”

Birmingham Yardley MP, who previously backed Wes Streeting for the leadership position, said she was looking forward to Burnham arriving in Westminster on Monday and seeing prospective candidates of a leadership contest “setting out their stall”.

But she added: “It would be much better if this wasn’t protracted and didn’t go on for a long time.”