‘I am not going to walk away’, says Starmer as Burnham pitches debate on ’how politics needs to change’ – as it happened

The prime minister said he wouldn’t be setting out a timetable to stand down if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield byelection In his pooled interview, Keir Starmer also insisted that he still plans to fight the next election. Christopher Hope from GB News said that, in an interview published eight days ago, Starmer said he wanted to fight the next election and serve a full second term. He asked Starmer if that was still the case. double quotation markI do want to fight the next election. Obviously, I recognise that after the local election results, the elections in Wales and Scotland as well, that the first task is obviously turning things around and making sure that my focus is in the right place. The last 10 days, there’s been a lot of activity which hasn’t been as focused in my view as it should have been, and I remind myself every day that I was elected to office to serve the people, to serve the country, that’s what I believe in, and that’s what I’ll be getting on with. Asked he would fight a leadership contest if another Labour MP gets enough support to mount a challenge, Starmer replied: double quotation markWell, we’re not at that position. But I’ve said, I do