The so-called “King of the North” is seen as the favourite to rescue Labour and replace Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister in the wake of a dreadful local election wipeout by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. But he faces a tough test to win the June 18 poll, with Reform seen as the favourite having won all council seats in the area earlier this month. Speaking on Channel 4 News for the first time since confirming he will put himself forward for Makerfield, Mr Burnham said the UK needed a “different path completely”.
Asked what that should be, he indicated a much more radical Left-wing agenda than Sir Keir.
“Put more things back under stronger public control – energy, housing, water, transport,” he said bluntly.
He pointed to his actions on buses in Greater Manchester, saying he was the “first to do it” and had helped make it more affordable with £2 fares.
He railed against former Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher for deregulating Manchester’s buses, saying “they just worked for private shareholders and not the paying public”.
He added: “You take that principle and you apply it to energy, you apply it to water – that’s what we need to do.
“The country gave away its control of the basic things people depend upon every day and that was a big mistake in my view.”
He told The Guardian last year: “Long term, I’m going to say it, I want to rejoin. I hope in my lifetime I see this country rejoin the European Union.”
But his longstanding pro-EU stance could prove deeply controversial in a Brexit-backing constituency, where Reform UK is expected to throw everything at the by-election.