STORY
Nigel Farage has said Andy Burnham would have no mandate if he became prime minister without a general election. The Reform UK leader said the public deserved a vote and argued that voters had little idea what Burnham’s policy positions would be if he entered Downing Street next month.
Farage also said the churn of prime ministers since the 2016 referendum was linked to what he described as the failure of the establishment to accept and implement Brexit. His comments came on the tenth anniversary of the referendum and a day after Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that he would stand down as Labour leader and prime minister once his successor had been chosen.
The Reform UK leader also acknowledged that the resurfacing of social media posts by Rob Kenyon, the party’s Makerfield candidate, had damaged the party’s campaign. Kenyon lost the by-election to Burnham by almost 10,000 votes, with Farage saying the posts were not good and did not help, while also saying it had been too late to withdraw the candidate.