Andy Burnham has hit out at allies of Sir Keir Starmer for “demanding simplistic statements of loyalty”, claiming they are underestimating the “peril” Labour is in.

The mayor of Greater Manchester insisted his recent interventions have not been about “personal ambition”, but starting an “open debate” about the direction of the party ahead of potentially catastrophic local and devolved elections next year.

In the lead up to Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool this week, the so-called “King of the North” has accused Sir Keir of having no vision for the country, while setting out his own policy proposals.

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It has fuelled mounting speculation he could launch a future leadership challenge against the prime minister, who in turn has compared Mr Burnham to Liz Truss.

At a fringe event on the opening day of the conference, the Northern mayor said: “I was clear in the interviews I gave last week, I wanted to launch a debate about the direction of the party and getting a plan to beat Reform UK.

“Those out there making calls for simplistic statements of loyalty are underestimating the peril the party is in.”

Two polls this week have predicted Reform UK leader Nigel Farage will become the next prime minister, while a poll of Labour members found more than half of them don’t want Sir Keir to fight the next general election.

Mr Burnham later turned up to a rally about Proportional Representation (PR), in which he insisted he wanted “this government to work”.

He received a rapturous reception as he entered the room, flanked by over a dozen photographers.

Mr Burnham made light of the attention, quipping that “there’s nothing more unstoppable than an idea whose time has come”, in reference to PR.

But this was not the focus of the punchy speech that followed, in which he criticised the Labour leadership’s handling of dissent, saying a “climate of fear” was preventing MPs from having an “open debate” about the direction of the party.

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A handful of Labour MPs have been suspended over the past year for criticising the government on issues like welfare reform and the two child benefit cap, but Mr Burnham has the freedom to be outspoken as he is not a member of parliament.

He said he had been accused of “all sorts of things” in the past week but had done “nothing more than launch a debate”.

Mr Burnham drew clear dividing lines in a recent interview with The New Statesman, as he said the country should be “less in hock to the bond markets”, called for a greater focus on council housing and said public utilities should be nationalised.

It fuelled speculation of an impending leadership challenge, given Mr Burnham fought twice to run the Labour Party while he was an MP, before stepping down in 2017 to run for the metro mayor position. He has not ruled out a return to Westminster and last week claimed Labour MPs have privately asked him to stand.

Sir Keir tried to shut down the narrative by suggesting Mr Burnham’s policies would unleash the economic chaos of Ms Truss, whose fatal mini budget sent the markets into meltdown, as he dismissed the “personal ambitions of the mayor”.

However, in a direct message to “those who say that I’m speaking out purely for my own ambition”, a defiant Mr Burnham said: “I can say to you tonight I am speaking out for the thousands of councillors here at this conference who are worried about going to those doorsteps next May, speaking for the members of the Senedd who, again, are working hard to keep Wales Labour… and, of course, members of the Scottish parliament as well, who want a stronger story about Labour to go to those doorsteps.

“I’m speaking out for the millions of good people around Britain who want a more hopeful direction for the country.

“I think we can do it. I honestly believe it can be done. We can make this government work, we can find that more hopeful direction and we can win again at the next general election.”

The speech was met with a big round of applause from members, while one Labour MP told Sky News it was a “great speech”.

And while cabinet ministers have called for the party to unite behind the prime minister to fight Reform UK – there appeared to a change in tone from Wes Streeting as the first day of conference drew to a close.

The health secretary told a fringe event that the government must be “open to challenge” from within.

He said: “We’ve got to be self-confident enough as ministers to be open to challenge, and openly debate different ideas, because it makes you stronger as a government.”

More than half of Labour members do not want Sir Keir Starmer to fight the next general election as party leader, a new poll has revealed.

The Survation survey for LabourList, shared with Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, showed 53% of the party membership want a new leader by the time of the next election, while only 31% want Sir Keir to remain in post until then.

The findings lay bare the scale of the challenge facing the prime minister as he heads to Liverpool for the Labour Party conference.

He arrives at the gathering just days after a separate poll showed Reform leader Nigel Farage had a clear path to Number 10, and after Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham appeared to set out his own bid for the Labour leadership in a series of interviews in which he claimed Labour MPs had privately urged him to return to Westminster.

In a direct criticism of Sir Keir, Mr Burnham – who previously ran for the Labour leadership in 2010 and 2015 – said Number 10 had created a “climate of fear” among MPs and created “alienation and demoralisation” within the party.

And in an apparent rebuke of the government’s policies and priorities so far, Mr Burnham set out an alternative vision to “turn the country around”, including higher council tax on expensive homes in London and the South East and for greater public control of energy, water and rail.

It follows a turbulent few weeks in which the prime minister has lost several close appointments: Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister, Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, Paul Ovenden as his director of political strategy and most recently Steph Driver, his director of communications.

The LabourList poll, which surveyed 1,254 Labour members between 23 and 25 September, also showed Labour members were unhappy with the general direction of the government, with 65% saying Sir Keir was heading in the wrong direction, compared with 26% who said he was getting it right.

More than 60% said he had governed badly, compared with 35% who had said he had done a good job.

The results will add to further grim reading for Labour after a mega poll conducted by YouGov for Sky News showed that Mr Farage is on course to be the next prime minister.

The YouGov MRP polling projection, based on a 13,000 sample taken over the last three weeks, suggested an election held tomorrow would see a hung parliament with Reform UK winning 311 of the 650 seats – 15 seats short of the formal winning line of 326.

The projection of Commons seats in Great Britain puts Reform UK on 311 seats, Labour on 144 seats, Liberal Democrats on 78 seats, Conservatives on 45 seats, SNP on 37 seats and Greens on seven seats, with Plaid on six seats and three seats won by left-wing challengers.

Northern Ireland constituencies are excluded.

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The result would see Labour lose around two-thirds of their existing seats, down from the 411 they won in last year’s general election.

It would also represent the worst result for the party since 1931 and would mark a further decline on the party’s performance under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, when the party won 202 seats.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir’s approval rating has hit a historic low. Just 13% of the public approves of the job he is doing as PM, according to a new Ipsos poll, while 79% is dissatisfied – giving him a net approval rating of -66.

That is worse than the previous record the pollster has recorded of -59, held by both Rishi Sunak in April 2024, and Sir John Major in August 1994.

The Labour Party doesn’t fare much better, with just 22% of the public saying they would vote for it if a general election were held today, while 34% would vote for Reform UK.

But Sir Keir has insisted that he can “pull things around”, telling The Sunday Times: “It is the fight of our times and we’ve all got to be in it together. We don’t have time for introspection, we don’t have time for navel-gazing.

“You’ll always get a bit of that at a Labour Party conference, but that is not going to solve the problems that face this country.

“Once you appreciate the change – in the sense of the division that Reform would bring to our country and the shattering of what we are as a patriotic country – then you realise this is a fight which in the end is bigger than the Labour Party.”

Sir Keir has previously warned that the next election will be an “open fight” between Labour and Reform UK.

The government will underwrite a £1.5bn loan guarantee to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) after a mass cyber attack forced a shutdown.

JLR suspended production at its UK factories following the cyber attack on 31 August. The shutdown is expected to last until 1 October, leaving the largest UK carmaker’s suppliers in limbo.

The loan is expected to give suppliers some certainty amid the continued shutdown, as the £1.5bn will help bolster JLR’s cash reserves as it pays back companies in its supply chain.

The government will give its backing to the loan through the Export Development Guarantee (EDG), a financial support mechanism aimed at helping British companies that sell their goods overseas.

The £1.5bn loan, from a commercial bank, will be paid back over five years.

“Following our decisive action, this loan guarantee will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and throughout the UK,” Business Secretary Peter Kyle said.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves added: “Jaguar Land Rover is an iconic British company which employs tens of thousands of people – a jewel in the crown of our economy.

“Today we are protecting thousands of those jobs with up to £1.5bn in additional private finance, helping them support their supply chain and protect a vital part of the British car industry.”

As a result of the attack, production was halted across the car-making supply chain, with thousands of staff off work.

More than 33,000 people work directly for JLR in the UK, many of them on assembly lines in the West Midlands, the largest of which is in Solihull, and a plant at Halewood on Merseyside.

An estimated 200,000 more are employed by several hundred companies in the supply chain, who have faced business interruption with their largest client out of action.

Ministers have had daily contact with JLR and cyber experts following the attack as the company attempts to restart production at its UK factories.

Unions and politicians have warned that small suppliers producing parts for JLR could collapse as a result of the shutdown unless they receive urgent financial support.

This week, Mr Kyle met workers and bosses at Webasto, which makes sunroofs for JLR.

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The brand has the largest supply chain in the UK automotive sector, which employs around 120,000 people and is largely made up of small and medium-sized businesses.

The government’s promise of underwriting the JLR loan has been praised by the Unite union, whose general secretary Sharon Graham said the loan was “an important first step and demonstrates that the government has listened to the concerns raised in meetings with Unite over recent days”.

She added: “This is exactly what the government should be doing, taking action to protect jobs.

“The money provided must now be used to ensure job guarantees and to also protect skills and pay in JLR and its supply chain.”