Andy Burnham has claimed Labour MPs are privately urging him to challenge the prime minister, as he unveiled his “plan to turn the country around”.

The mayor of Greater Manchester, who served in Gordon Brown’s cabinet, has been tipped to make a return to Westminster.

Speculation has ramped up amid a rough start to the new parliamentary term for the government, with Sir Keir Starmer forced into a cabinet reshuffle and the sacking of his ambassador to the US.

Speaking to The Telegraph and the New Statesman, Mr Burnham has further fuelled rumours that he is plotting another leadership challenge. He lost to Ed Miliband in 2010 and Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.

“People have contacted me throughout the summer – yeah,” the former minister told The Telegraph when asked if Labour MPs had encouraged him to try again.

“I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened.

“But as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”

He added: “I stood twice to be leader of the Labour Party. And I think that tells you, doesn’t it?”

‘Climate of fear’

He refused to rule out making a challenge before May 2026, widely seen as the point at which some Labour MPs feel Sir Keir’s time could be up – if the party does badly in the next set of local elections.

They include London, while the Scottish and Welsh parliaments are also up for grabs.

In a direct criticism of Sir Keir, Mr Burnham said Number 10 had created a “climate of fear” among MPs and created “alienation and demoralisation” within the party.

The government has already run up against its own backbenchers over issues including welfare cuts, the winter fuel payment changes, and the two-child benefit cap.

A debate continues to rage on tax ahead of the budget, with the chancellor being told significant increases are needed.

Labour remain behind Reform UK in the polls, having seen their popularity plummet since the 2024 general election, while the prime minister is also unpopular with the public.

Despite his previous failed leadership challenges, Mr Burnham has rebuilt his image as a mayor in Manchester.

He notably sparred with Boris Johnson during the pandemic, and became known as the “King in the North”.

Burnham’s manifesto

Mr Burnham has set out a raft of policies he said would “turn the country around”, including higher council tax on expensive homes in London and the South East.

He would cut income tax for lower earners, but introduce a 50p rate for the highest earners, and borrow £40bn to boost the building of council houses.

He also called for more public control of energy, water and rail, and signalled a willingness to work with progressive parties – including Jeremy Corbyn’s still-unnamed venture.

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Any attempt to replace the prime minister would require him to secure a parliamentary seat in a possible by-election, though the polls suggest no seat would be a slam-dunk victory for Labour.

Mr Burnham will likely use Labour’s party conference, starting Sunday, to make his pitch to members, though should expect hostile briefings from those inside the government.

Speaking to Politics Hub With Darren McCaffrey on Wednesday, Labour peer Thangam Debbonaire said he should “stop sticking his oar in”. “Keir Starmer is our prime minister,” she said, and he should be allowed to get on with the job.

“Chauvinistic” debates on immigration are distracting ministers from tackling the child poverty “emergency”, the founder of the Big Issue has told Sky News.

Lord John Bird, a crossbench peer, said there is “no evidence” the government is trying to “stop the growth or the propagation” of generational poverty, and the best thing they can do is admit they “haven’t got this right” and change course.

It comes amid a delay to Labour’s child poverty strategy, which is looking at whether to lift the controversial two-child benefit cap, among other measures.

While not affiliated to any political party, Lord Bird warned Labour will not hold back the rise of Reform UK unless they get a grip on the issue – calling debates on immigration a “great distraction”.

“They’re largely there because of the problems in the country,” he said of Nigel Farage’s party.

“There’s a kind of rightward move in the country and a lot of that has to do with the way the immigration is going.

“It’s all about, in my opinion, chauvinism – and patriotism has become a new value. I am particularly concerned about that.”

Lord Bird is proposing an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and School’s Bill next month that would impose a statutory duty on the government to reduce child poverty in England.

Education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith has previously rejected the idea, saying targets “would not in themselves drive reductions in poverty”.

But according to analysis by the Big Issue, Scotland has seen a 12% drop in relative child poverty since passing legally binding targets in 2018, whereas England and Wales has seen a 15% rise.

Lord Bird’s amendment has the support of Labour peer Ruth Lister, the former director of the Child Poverty Action Group, who argues targets “galvanise” governments and local authorities into action.

Manifesto pledge at risk

Labour is under pressure as its manifesto promised an “ambitious strategy” to bring down child poverty, but the taskforce set up to deliver it after the general election missed its deadline in May.

The delay followed cost concerns around lifting the two-child benefit cap, which multiple charities and Labour MPs argue is the most immediate thing the government can do to help the record 4.5 million children living in poverty in the UK.

That figure is projected to rise to 4.8 million children by the end of this parliament without further action – putting the manifesto pledge in jeopardy.

The cap is likely to be a significant issued at Labour’s annual party conference kicking off this weekend, against the backdrop of a deputy leadership contest in which both contenders have pledged to make child poverty a priority.

Education Secretary Bridget Philipson, who is standing in the race and co-chairs the poverty taskforce, said this week that “everything is on the table, including removing the two-child limit”.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, who co-chairs the taskforce, has not ruled out an announcement by the prime minister at the conference, but stressed: “Everything has to be paid for, everything has to be budgeted.”

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Lord Bird said removing the two-child cap, estimated to cost £3.4bn a year, would alleviate an “emergency”.

However, he said a longer-term strategy was needed to prevent poverty, warning it is more entrenched now than during his own “terrible” childhood.

The 79-year-old was born in a Notting Hill slum to a poor Irish family in 1946, becoming homeless at age five and learning to read and write through the prison system as a teen.

Back then “no one was giving you a handout” whereas there is “institutional poverty now”, Lord Bird said, blaming recent governments for “trying to make the poor slightly a bit more comfortable” rather than “turning off the tap”.

‘Aim for the impossible’

He urged Labour to challenge the radicalism of Nye Bevan, the founder of the NHS, and “aim for the impossible” in eradicating child poverty, with investments in education and social development.

“There’s no evidence that the government is trying to stop the growth or the propagation from one generation to another of poverty,” he said.

“The cheapest but most efficient thing this government could do is stop pretending they’ve got it right, stop pretending they got the answers. The most important thing they could do is say, whatever we’re doing, it’s not working.”