‘Special conference’ to take place at noon where Burnham will be formally announced as Labour leader
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, used to be relatively positive about the prospect of Andy Burnham becoming Labour leader. More recently he has sounded less enthusiastic, particularly after the reports saying Burnham is going to appoint Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, as his chancellor.
In an interview on Sky News this morning, Polanski said he was worried that Burnham could end up like Keir Starmer “with a different face”.
Let’s see what [Burnham] does as prime minister. And if he does bring in the wealth tax, if he does build council homes, I’ll be the first to applaud that.
[But] I think people who are on the left or who want to see progressive politics are looking at Andy Burnham and going, this looks a lot like Keir Starmer with a different face.
I think we’re still going to see [under Burnham] a party where inequality gets wider, where we’ve seen them apologise for Labour’s history in Gaza, but he’s still not signalled that he’s going to stop selling arms to Israel.
I think again and again we’re going to hear rhetoric which is more in line with what the Green party are saying. But why have semi-skimmed when you could come to the Green party and actually have the full version, where we’re both saying and doing things?
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