UK set for 'most unpleasant, divisive' election in our lifetimes, warns Burnham
The next election will be the "most unpleasant, divisive" contest in our lifetime as the Tories strive to make it as "toxic as they can", Andy Burnham has said.
The Greater Manchester Mayor accused the Conservatives of "betting the shop on culture wars" and said Labour needed to show it can bring hope as well as change. Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe, Mr Burnham said voters were crying out for a "rewiring" of the state after more than a decade of Tory rule.
Mr Burnham, who has run two unsuccessful bids to the Labour party, said Keir Starmer needed to "put a hopeful platform out there" to woo voters ahead of the upcoming election, which is expected next year. Asked about the election, he told an audience at The Stand New Town theatre: “Let’s be honest, I think we’re heading to the most unpleasant, divisive general election we will ever see in our lifetimes. The Tories are betting the shop on culture wars, and they’re going to make it as toxic as they can make them. They’re already doing it.”
He said he could never have imagined hearing comments like those from Tory Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson, who recently said asylum seekers should “f*** off back to France”. The former Health Secretary said: “Can you imagine an elected representative of the Conservative party in the British Parliament using language like that? Did you ever think you would see that happen?
"Honestly, I can’t imagine. And yet he’s deputy chairman of the bloody party. So we know what’s coming. In those circumstances, what do you do? “Do you go fight on that territory, or do you get on a massively different plane and say, No, we believe in a very different vision of a country that’s about respect, standards, equality, justice, things that people can believe in. I think that’s where the public mood is right now. The public see that there’s a need for a rewiring [of the state]."
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Mr Burnham, who has sometimes diverged from the Labour leadership in his comments, said: “Obviously oppositions are cautious. But we’re hitting that point now where I think [Labour] have put themselves in a position where the country’s listening, and there is that opportunity to put that hopeful platform out there.
"Speaking personally, that’s what I believe they should do. Not promising the world, not making those unfunded commitments. They would be wrong to do that. But there is enough, perhaps drawing on what we’ve done [with mayors] in Manchester, Liverpool and West Yorkshire, to say this is the change that Labour would bring.”
Mr Burnham, who stood down as an MP in 2017, has said he will seek a third term as Mayor of Greater Manchester. But he has continued to hint at a possible return to Westminster. "If a path opens up in time then, of course, I'm not going to turn away from that," he said.
"I think there potentially is one last go at Westminster somewhere. But I want to be clear about this - I would only be going back to enact what I've talked about today."
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