Andy Burnham has said MPs are urging him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership in an intervention likely to fuel speculation he could be seeking a return to Westminster.
The Manchester Mayor accused Downing Street of creating a âclimate of fearâ and said âwholesale changeâ was required to see off an âexistentialâ threat to the ruling party.
And he set out his vision for how to âturn the country aroundâ, including higher council tax on some homes in southern England and a 50p top rate of income tax, in interviews with the New Statesman and Telegraph.
Mr Burnham said there was a âhuge underpayment of tax that should now be correctedâ in London and the South East because the rates were based on property valuations from 1991.
In comments likely to heap further pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she seeks to balance the books ahead of the autumn budget, he told the Telegraph there was âdefinitely a caseâ for raising income tax later in this Parliament.
The Prime Minister has had a bruising few weeks in which two high-profile Government departures and sustained lag behind Reform UK in the polls sparked questions about his leadership.
Mr Burnham, who served in Gordon Brownâs government, insisted he is not plotting an immediate return to Westminster or wanting to step on the Governmentâs toes as it seeks a reset at the Labour Party conference.
But the senior Labour politician told the New Statesman that the gathering in Liverpool starting on Sunday must answer the question âwhere is our plan to turn the country around?â
âIâm going to put the question back to people at Labour conference: are we up for that wholesale change?
He said returning to âthe old way of doing things in Westminster with minimal changeâ was an unattractive prospect, but that he was ready to âwork with anybody who wants to⌠put in place a plan to turn the country around.â
âIâm happy to play any role. I am ready to play any role in that. Yes. Because the threat weâre facing is increasingly an existential one.â
Mr Burnham detailed his politics of âaspirational socialismâ in comments likely to be seen as a pitch for a future leadership bid amid speculation he could be seeking a return to Westminster.
He called for more public control of housing, energy, water and rail, and to âget back to speaking to working-class ambitionâ.
He signalled a willingness to work with the Liberal Democrats and Jeremy Corbyn and told the Telegraph he believed Britain should introduce proportional representation to encourage co-operation within the âprogressive majorityâ.
Asked if MPs had urged him to run for the top job, he said: âPeople have contacted me throughout the summer â yeah.
âIâm not going to say to you that that hasnât happened, but as I say, itâs more a decision for those people than it is for me.â
Mr Burnham told the New Statesman it would be a âwrenchâ to leave his current role and but repeatedly declined to rule out a tilt at the leadership as he set out what could be seen as a manifesto for change.
A Labour source said: âIâve heard of a stalking horse, but this guy is going to get hoarse from his endless stalking.â
The Mayor of Greater Manchester has thrown his weight behind former Commons leader Lucy Powell in the race to succeed Angela Rayner as Labour deputy leader following Ms Raynerâs resignation over her tax affairs.
He believes the Manchester Central MPâs victory would be key to weakening Downing Streetâs grip on the party, according to The New Statesman.
Ms Powell has also been boosted by a ÂŁ15,000 donation from green energy industrialist Dale Vince, who said: âI believe itâs right to go all the way and have a deputy leader that is not in the Government and thus less constrained by collective responsibility.â
Ms Powell has cast herself as the âindependent choiceâ in the contest against Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson.
But Education Secretary Ms Phillipson on Wednesday rejected claims she is No 10âs choice, suggesting instead she had been the victim of sexist briefings.
She was asked whether she would welcome Mr Burnham, who was a Labour MP from 2001 until he quit Westminster in 2017, into the Commons as a potential leadership rival to the Prime Minister.
âWell, there isnât a vacancy, so Iâm not sure which job heâd be applying for,â she told BBC Radio 5 Live.
âHeâs got a big job on his hands there in Manchester.â
