Andy Burnham facing fresh pressure to call a General Election as new poll finds just one-in-five voters believe he has a mandate to be Prime Minister

By JASON GROVES, POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 22:59, 24 June 2026 | Updated: 22:59, 24 June 2026 Voters disapprove of plans to crown Andy Burnham as Prime Minister without a contest, new polls have revealed. One survey found that barely one-in-five voters - just 21 per cent - believe he should be installed immediately as Prime Minister. By contrast, 54 per cent believe he should first face a Labour leadership contest.  The Public First poll for Politico found the desire for a leadership contest was even stronger among Labour voters, with 57 per cent saying Mr Burnham should seek a mandate of his own.  Mr Burnham looks set to sweep to power on 17 July in a Labour 'coronation' just weeks after winning a by-election in Makerfield that made him eligible to stand for the Labour leadership.    A separate YouGov poll found that the public favour a General Election by a margin of 48:36. The survey found that just 18 per cent of people think Mr Burnham will make a good PM, with 20 per cent who think he will be average and 26 per cent who predict he will be poor or 'terrible'. Sir Keir triggered a leadership contest this week by announcing he will bow to pressure from Labour MPs to resign as party leader. Andy Burnham was given a hero's welcome by Labour MPs who want to crown him as PM Nominations for the role will open on 9 July and close a week later, with potential candidates needing the backing of at least 80 MPs. But Mr Burnham now looks set to be the only candidate, paving the way for him to become PM on 17 July, the day after nominations close. Former health secretary Wes Streeting cleared the way for a coronation on Monday by announcing he will now back Mr Burnham, just days after saying a contest was essential. Cabinet Office minister Darren Jones formally pulled out on Wednesday, despite being urged to run by some pro-Starmer MPs. Former special forces officer Al Carns has said he is still weighing his options, but most MPs do not believe he has enough backing. Several hard-Left MPs have called for a contest but do not have a credible candidate to rally behind. Nigel Farage has called for an immediate General Election, saying it was 'ridiculous to pretend that Andy Burnham has any kind of meaningful mandate to lead the country'. 'If Labour thinks it can shove another professional politician into No 10, it has another think coming.' If Mr Burnham enters No 10 without a contest next month he will have the weakest mandate of any Prime Minister in history. His 24,927 votes in Makerfield this month were enough to give him a 55 per cent share of the vote in a seat Labour has held for a century. But they equate to just 0.05 per cent of the UK electorate. Mr Burnham is also unusual in having not stood on Labour's manifesto at the last election. And he will become the first PM in modern times not to have served either as leader of the opposition or in one of the three great offices of state before entering No 10. Mr Burnham has played down the prospect of an early General Election for fear of alienating Labour MPs who are at risk of losing their seats in a snap poll. But privately some allies acknowledge he could decide to call an early election to gain his own mandate if the polls look favourable in a few months' time. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.