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'Burnham as PM could be good for West Midlands'

Simon GilbertPolitical Reporter, Coventry and Warwickshire
News imageBBC Richard Parker wears dark rimmed glassed and a dark suit jacket with a white shirt. He has short white hair.BBC
Richard Parker believes the fact Andy Burnham was a regional mayor could be good news for the West Midlands

The West Midlands mayor hopes Andy Burnham, should he become Prime Minister, would mean more powers and funding for the region.

Labour's Richard Parker has offered his backing to the former mayor of Greater Manchester and said: "If he is Prime Minister, and I hope he is, I look forward to working with him to continue that path towards devolution because there's no doubt we can make better decisions here in our regions."

He added Burnham had a "clear understanding" of the "difference mayors make".

Burnham is the favourite to occupy Number 10 after Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday and another possible challenger to lead Labour, Wes Streeting, announced he would not make a bid.

News imageHouse of Commons Andy Burnham is pictured smiling in the House of Commons as he is sworn in as the MP for Makerfield. MPs can be seen in the background on the famous green benches while he holds a pen. He is wearing a dark suit jacket, grey tie and white shit. He wears glasses and has short, dark hair.House of Commons
Andy Burnham can turn around Labour's fortunes in the region following poor local election results, Richard Parker says.

Saying Burnham had done brilliantly in Greater Manchester, Parker added: "I know that he'll be committed to seeing that Whitehall devolves more powers and more funding away from Westminster into our regions."

Parker also said he thought Burnham's background as a regional mayor could help turn around poor results for the Labour Party at the recent local elections in the West Midlands.

Almost 200 Labour councillors lost seats across the region and the party lost control of councils including Birmingham, Coventry and Sandwell.

'Tangible benefits'

"What the people told us at the local elections on 7 May is that as the government, as mayors, we need to deliver more," Parker said.

"We need to deliver more quickly and we need to deliver more tangible benefits to them and I believe the best way of doing that is through devolving more resources and more powers to mayors."

Asked whether he was backing Burnham to become Prime Minister, he said: "Absolutely. He's been a great mayor, he's worked in Westminster previously in senior roles and I think he proved, in the [Makerfield] by-election, that he's a really effective communicator.

"People understand what he's about and he now needs to develop a clear mission and purpose for the country."

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