Andy Burnham has joked Greater Manchester should 'not get too excited' as speculation swirls he was ready to challenge Keir Starmer for Labour leadership.

The mayor fuelled rumours in a New Statesman interview published earlier this week he would move into Downing Street by criticising the government's approach, saying the party needs to find 'our plan to turn the country around'.

Speculation intensified as Mr Burnham confirmed in a Telegraph interview on Wednesday (September 24) that he was approached by Labour MPs about succeeding Keir Starmer over the summer.

But after saying he was 'ready to support' the government and he had 'no intention of abandoning what we are trying to build in Greater Manchester', Mr Burnham faced a backlash from Labour MPs, suggesting he would not have the support of the 80 MPs required to take over as Prime Minister.

On Friday morning (September 26), in his final mayoral meeting before heading to Labour conference in Liverpool, Mr Burnham joked with the leaders of Greater Manchester's 10 councils they should 'not get too excited'.

Before beginning his usual chair's announcements at a Greater Manchester Combined Authority meeting, he said: "This might be more eagerly anticipated than other chairs' announcements, but do not get too excited."

The 2025 Labour Conference is taking place at the ACC in Liverpool (Image - Rodhullandemu / Wikimedia Commons)

The mayor said he would keep a lower profile at Labour Conference this year, only appearing at a handful of events, in order to avoid stepping on the cabinet's toes as party bosses try to reset the government following Angela Rayner's resignation and a major ministerial reshuffle.

He will go into the Merseyside event buoyed by confirmation the Prime Minister is 'absolutely committed to Northern Powerhouse Rail' (NPR), despite Sir Keir's expected announcement having been delayed.

NPR is a project Mr Burnham has championed for years, calling for a new train line from an underground Manchester Piccadilly station which stops at Manchester Airport and Warrington Bank Quay before terminating at a new Liverpool Central station.

The PM added: "This is about taking the time to get this right. It's not deviating from the commitment."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands the delay resulted from cost analysis of the proposed route taking longer than anticipated, but the government ultimately agreed to include a Manchester Airport stop after some reports suggested it could be axed.

It's thought an announcement could be made in weeks, after final details are worked out.

ACC image by Rodhullandemu, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.

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