The Labour government needs a reset to become more decisive and listen more to its MPs, Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and former cabinet minister, has said.
Burnham, who is touted as a potential future leader, said he was concerned about the balance of the cabinet after the reshuffle and wanted the government to be more “pluralistic”.
He said the deputy leadership contest was a moment to try to improve the balance of the party, especially away from being London-centric.
Burnham is unable to run because he is not an MP, but he suggested several figures from the “soft left” of the party including the former transport minister Louise Haigh, and the leader of the Commons Lucy Powell, who left her role in the reshuffle.
There is a huge list of other potential candidates, including David Lammy, Lisa Nandy and Shabana Mahmood in the cabinet; Stella Creasy, Emily Thornberry, Sarah Owen, Anneliese Dodds, Dawn Butler and Meg Hillier on the backbenches; plus Richard Burgon, Nadia Whittome and others more on the left of the party.
The party’s ruling national executive committee is scheduled to meet on Monday to outline a timetable for the deputy leadership election. Burgon, a former shadow cabinet minister under Jeremy Corbyn, called on the committee “not to skew the process to deliver the outcome the current leadership wants but ensure this is a fully democratic process”.
Keir Starmer’s shakeup of his team was triggered by the resignation of the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, over her under-payment of stamp duty.
He appeared to seize the opportunity to cement allies in key jobs, including elevating Mahmood to home secretary and Pat McFadden to work and pensions secretary, and shifting David Lammy to be justice secretary and deputy prime minister.
The changes have been interpreted as an increase in power for the right of the party, with Mahmood charged with more radical solutions to the problem of small-boat crossings, and McFadden likely to have another attempt to finds ways to cut the welfare bill that MPs will not block.
Burnham told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I am concerned about the balance, and I think you know, we need to use the deputy leadership contest to discuss some of these things.
“In a time where the scale and the nature of the challenge we face is such as it is, you need everybody pulling together, all parts of the party pulling together. And that points to a party management style that is less factional and more pluralistic.
“Labour MPs need to be, they need to listen to them more and respect them more. You know, they were the ones who, if you like, caused the change in terms of winter fuel and disability benefits. But you know, they shouldn’t be punished for that.
“I think that’s what it needs, you know, we need to hear the voice of the party, the voice of the members, and then the voice of our communities behind that, particularly in the north of England, to counter that London centricity.”
He said there needed to be “a reset of the way we’re doing things” and that “if the government says it’s going to do something, it should just do it”, pointing to the slowness of progress on the Hillsborough law.
The reshuffle has prompted concern among some on the Labour left and the union movement that the government could row back on elements of its workers’ rights legislation which is making its way through parliament.
Justin Madders, who lost his role as an employment minister spearheading the changes, posted on X on Sunday: “Let’s hope these fears are unfounded because it would be really, really foolish for the government to row back on key manifesto commitments that are popular with the public and will show what a positive difference a Labour government can make.”
Asked whether the legislation would be watered down, the defence secretary, John Healey, told Sky: “No, I think the plan to upgrade what will be the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights for a generation, led by Angela Rayner as one of the marks of how effective she’s been as minister and what a loss she’ll be to government.”
Asked whether that meant people could expect no changes to the legislation, he said: “I’m really confident that we’ll deliver what we promised in the manifesto, the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights for a generation. The bill’s been set out.”
He also said he disputed Burnham’s characterisation of the government as needing a reset to become more decisive and better at listening to MPs.
“Our focus has been on the public that elected us, the delivery that we’re charged to change their lives. It’s a big part of the job we all do,” he said.
