Brace for the Scouse PM

Dear readers — as if Africa Oye wasn’t action-packed enough, today we’re waking up to a seminal moment in British politics: Sir Keir Starmer is gone. 

While the news may not come as a huge shock, it does mean Britain is about to get its seventh Prime Minister in just ten years. And though this is a national story, it has ramifications here in Merseyside, too. 

Why? Well, because the man who appears to be the front-runner to become our next PM is none other than born Scouser (technically speaking, he was raised in Cheshire), Everton fan and former Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham. If he becomes the PM, he'll be the first Scouser in the role since William Gladstone held the position in the 1800s. Read all about that in today’s big story. 

We’re hiring! 🚨

Want to work for The Post? We’re hiring a new reporter to join our team. Find out how to apply below.

Role details

• Location: Liverpool/Merseyside (we need someone who lives full-time in the region, or is willing to relocate).
• Salary: Dependent on experience (circa. £30k-35k) with an opportunity for pay to increase next year.
• Basis: Full-time (including some out-of-hours work).
• Office/remote: Four days per week in our Liverpool city centre office.
• Start date: July/August 2026.
• Deadline: Thursday 2 July. 

Click here for more details on how to apply.

The big story: Brace for the Scouse PM

Top line: Sir Keir Starmer is gone, and the near-guarantee to replace him is an Aintree-born Everton fan. 

As expected, following Andy Burnham’s decisive by-election win in Makerfield last week, the Prime Minister stood down this morning. He said his party had been asking whether or not he was “best placed” to lead them into the next General Election, adding: “I have heard the answer”.

Hopefuls to the throne now have until 9 July to put themselves forward, although in all likelihood the decision has already been made.

That timeline means Andy Burnham could be in place by the Labour Conference September, which, once again, will be held in Liverpool. 

So what do politicians around Merseyside think?

• Labour MP for Wirral West Matthew Patrick posted on X to applaud Starmer's resignation speech as "dignified, heartfelt and patriotic", celebrating the government's "huge achievements".
• Sarah Pochin, Reform’s MP in Runcorn, was less kind. “Whoever next occupies No. 10,” she said, "would do well to remember this: put Britain and the British people last, and you will not be there for long."
• And metro Mayor Steve Rotheram was full of praise for the outgoing PM, saying his was the “first government in British history to place devolution at the heart of its programme for national renewal”. That said, Rotheram won’t have any qualms about the next next man through the door…

At a surface level, the prospect of a Burnham premiership should spell good news for this neck of the woods. Burnham and Rotheram are longstanding “bezzie mates” (Rotheram’s words to The Post in 2022) and Burnham is a regular at Everton games. 

Obviously, those two things aren’t greatly meaningful on their own, but raises the question of whether the close relationship between the pair could mean progress for any of Rotheram’s highly-ambitious (and highly expensive) pet projects, many of which currently show little sign of progress, and would almost certainly require government funding. 

Head North: More generally, the key thrust of Burnham’s 2024 book Head North, co-written with Rotheram (indeed ghost-written by the Echo’s Political Editor Liam Thorp) is that the UK economy has been too London-centric for too long. In that book, in one of Rotheram’s sections — the book flits back and forth between the voices of the two majors — the government’s Green Book funding system is blamed for the failure to fund Rotheram's Mersey tidal barrage project.

At the time we wrote that the project’s apparent cost (in the £4-6bn range) would make it unlikely for even a Labour government to green-light, and so far that has proved to be the case. It’ll be interesting to see whether Rotheram’s closest political ally becoming PM makes any difference.

Head North-er: As one of the major success stories of devolution, there’s also every chance Burnham will seek to increase the powers held by metro mayors — including ours. In 2022, while Labour was in opposition, he urged his party to “embrace devolution in England more enthusiastically than it has done”.

So, a PM Burnham could easily mean a more empowered Rotheram at a local level. Indeed, a very widely shared piece about Burnham, and what Burnhamism represents, from our sister paper, The Mill, a few weeks back, ended with these words: 

“Perhaps the closest thing to Burnhamism that I can divine is his belief in devolving power away from Whitehall. It’s not exactly a distinctive political philosophy but it has the benefit of being correct. We’re one of the most centralised countries in Europe, and economists like [Diane] Coyle are right that it’s holding us back. Perhaps the best thing for Burnham to do, recognising his weaknesses at wielding hard power, would be to get himself into Downing Street and immediately start giving it away.”

And then there’s HS2. During his Makerfield campaign Burnham promised to revive the scrapped Northern leg (with an estimated cost of £36bn) between Birmingham and Manchester. No such comments have been made regarding the long-scrapped Liverpool leg, but, obviously, such a move would still mean significantly cutting the Liverpool-London journey time. Question marks have been raised over the affordability of such a move, but Burnham thinks some of it can be made back by capitalising on the rise in land value around new stations. 

Bottom line: Given constraints on the national economy, it would be fanciful to believe Andy Burnham would walk into office and start merrily chucking cash at long-stalled projects in Merseyside, purely because of his fondness for the region and its mayor. But he is a big believer in greater devolving power from Westminster, and if that becomes a central tenant of a Burnham government, it could mean possibilities for Liverpool and the rest of the region. 

Your Post briefing

The missing councillors: Another spat between the Lib Dems and Labour has broken out, after former Lib Dem leader Richard Kemp called for the resignation of four councillors over poor attendance. Labour councillors Sarah Doyle, Tom Logan and Elizabeth Hayden, along with Colette Goulding (who is currently suspended from Labour as a result of our investigations into the Big Help empire), have only attended between three and five council meetings in the last 18 months, but have claimed their full £13,932 councillor allowance. Kemp added that it was "appalling" that none of the councillors concerned had attended the authority's annual budget meeting in March. In their defence, Labour said their councillors “remain[ed] focused on delivering for local people, not engaging in political point-scoring over attendance statistics”. 

Digging for gold? A new architectural dig in Warrington is hoping to find a long-lost medieval castle. The castle is thought to be located somewhere in St Elphin's Park, after a re-evaluation of historical records, evidence and recent surveys all pointed to the possibility of remains beneath the park. Keith Myers, the leader of the archaeology project, told the BBC he believes the site was once a place of strategic and political importance, shaped by the Romans, Saxons and Normans. Now, a new fundraising bid is underway to finance the dig. "This is about local identity and giving Warrington the chance to understand a part of its own story that has almost vanished from public memory,” Myers said. 

Half man, half…fish?: No, this isn’t a reference to one of Birkenhead’s greatest bands. A new sculpture appeared along the River Mersey last week, depicting a rather solemn-looking half man, half fish creature. The sculpture, titled Skalli, was created by Liverpool-born artist Patric Rogers, and has won the annual Liverpool Sculpture Prize. Rogers said the art is based on mythology and folklore, and "plays with the idea of a tale about a creature from the river, interwoven in our sense of identity”. Go take a look at the art over at St Nicholas Church on Chapel Street, where it will be on display for the next 12 months. 

Photo of the week

We had a fantastic time at Africa Oye over the weekend! These pictures taken by Reddit user Plastic-Transition-4 capture the joyous energy of the festival perfectly. Take a look at the full collection of pictures here. 

Post Picks

🎭 On Wednesday, Claremont Farm is putting on an outdoor performance of The Three Musketeers. It’ll be performed by theatre group Illyria, and doors open at 7pm with a short interval included. Details here. 

🎞 On Thursday, Artefact is showing the 2002 film Jackass — but on VHS. There’s free popcorn with drinks purchases and games available before the film — details here.

🍲 And on Saturday, Wirral Change is hosting the Buka Experience with Anny’s Afrikana. They’ll be bringing home style African cooking to the table with plenty of music, too. Details here.