Andy Burnham has ruled out a snap general election, saying it would “postpone that essential work” of implementing his version of Labour’s 2024 manifesto.
On Friday, the prime minister opened a new headquarters for the centre of government in Manchester, which has been named ‘No. 10 North’.
Mr Burnham is expected to work at No. 10 Downing Street.
Mr Burnham is expected to work at No 10 North, at Heron House in Manchester, once each week during his premiership, as part of his move to push power out of Westminster.
During an interview with Manchester Evening News, the former mayor insisted he would not call an election, having entered Downing Street on Monday after a rapid climb to power.
He said, ‘No, I’m not.’ I don’t think that is right.
“We live in a parliamentary democracy. There was a manifesto in 2024. I’m sticking to that manifesto. I’m bringing forward my version but it is still within that manifesto. We need to focus on making the country work.
“That is the biggest priority right now. A general election would postpone that essential work. I’m also trying to do politics differently, as I did when I was mayor of Greater Manchester.”
He added that, although he was relishing his new role as PM, he missed being the mayor of Greater Manchester, which had famously earned him the moniker ‘King of the North’.
During a speech to his team and members of the media, Mr Burnham said he wanted to “get Britain hoping again” and described opening the new base as the “best day of my life”.
He said it was a “full circle” experience for him, as he had to leave the North West to start his career.
Mr Burnham added: ‘And it’s true of places all over the country; to get on in life, you had to leave where you were because things weren’t here.
“The country has always been a little like that, hasn’t it?
That opportunity has been unevenly spread around the country, and some places feel excluded from the national story; that is what this government is going to work every single day to change.
And that is what No. 10 North is all about: putting power in every postcode so people can turn things around for themselves, just as this great city has done and other English cities are doing through devolution so they can do more for themselves.
The prime minister insisted that No 10 North was key to getting “good growth going in every part of the country”.
Mr Burnham also spoke about wanting to create a “one-team feeling” across the whole of the UK and insisted No. 10 North was “as much for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland as it is for the regions of England”.
The new Prime Minister met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday with Scottish First Minister John Swinney, telling him that another independence referendum is “off limits”.
He also met with Wales’s first minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, in Glasgow, who pushed for the Welsh Government to be given the same devolved powers as those available to Scotland, including over rail, policing, justice and the Crown Estate.
Concluding his speech at No. 10 North, Mr Burnham railed against critics – “often London-based” – who he claimed would see the project as a “gimmick”.
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