Flutter those eyelashes all you like, Andy... we want an election now! On eve of becoming PM, 'Messiah without a mandate' Burnham gets blunt message from voters

Published: 00:07, 19 July 2026 | Updated: 00:20, 19 July 2026 Andy Burnham has no mandate for his 'back-to-the-1970s' Left-wing policies - with voters demanding he call a general election, an exclusive Mail on Sunday poll has found. Mr Burnham will walk into Downing Street on Monday pledging to drag Britain back to the pre-Thatcher era with 'distinctively Labour' policies such as wealth taxes to hammer middle-class families.  But, according to the MoS survey, 47 per cent of people think that Mr Burnham - who was anointed as Labour leader without a contest - should call an election to legitimise his agenda. A total of 31 per cent disagree. The polling by Find Out Now also shows that only 18 per cent of voters think Mr Burnham should repair the public finances by increasing taxes, while 55 per cent say he should cut public spending instead.  The results come as Mr Burnham's embryonic administration is already descending into chaos and in-fighting over his first Cabinet appointments. Andy Burnham gives a speech after he was announced as the new leader of the Labour Party. Mr Burnham will walk into Downing Street on Monday pledging to drag Britain back to the pre-Thatcher era  Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded Mr Burnham a 'people pleaser' who did not want to face proper scrutiny A poll for the Mail on Sunday has revealed that 47 per cent of people think that Mr Burnham - who was anointed as Labour leader without a contest - should call an election to legitimise his agenda The expected announcement on North Sea drilling would be part of a raft of new policy measures, including public control of water and energy companies, a fresh council house-building programme, cuts to energy bills and bus fares and reform of social care - which would have to be paid for through wealth or death taxes. Mr Burnham vowed in his coronation speech on Friday to build a 'new politics' and 'take back power from Westminster' on the grounds that Britain had taken a series of 'wrong turns in the 1980s' under Margaret Thatcher. But Labour MPs worry that he will struggle to force through reforms without getting the explicit backing of voters. One said: 'He hasn't got a mandate. The pressure will come on him to go for an early election - not straight away, but next year. 'He will have to make some pretty tough decisions, and he hasn't got a mandate. You can't promise the biggest change in history and not have a mandate.' The Conservatives dubbed Mr Burnham a 'coronation chicken' for dodging Parliamentary scrutiny until the Commons returns in September. Mrs Badenoch said: 'He has not said what he's going to do - it's all airy-fairy stuff.' Mr Burnham's apparent refusal to let even key allies know who would be given Cabinet jobs was blamed for sowing increasing confusion in the party. Mr Miliband was originally said to be 'nailed on' to become Chancellor, but subsequent reports have indicated Ms Mahmood would get that job instead. In that scenario, Mr Miliband would - according to some predictions - be compensated by getting Yvette Cooper's current job of Foreign Secretary. Sources close to the former Deputy PM Angela Rayner have stressed that she would need 'some persuading' to become Health Secretary  Wes Streeting, Mr Burnham's one-time rival for the party leadership, has been variously linked to a return to his old job as Health Secretary, a new one as Defence Secretary, or even Chancellor However, the Foreign Office position has also been linked to Mr Miliband's brother David, which would mark an unexpected return to British politics, and also involve him becoming a Labour peer. Wes Streeting, Mr Burnham's one-time rival for the party leadership, has been variously linked to a return to his old job as Health Secretary, a new one as Defence Secretary, or even Chancellor.  To add to the confusion, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was on Saturday also said to be in line to be Health Secretary - partly because her former experience as a care worker could help Mr Burnham's radical plans for a national care service. The move would represent a dramatic comeback for Ms Rayner, who quit the Cabinet last year in a row over her tax affairs.  But, sources close to Ms Rayner - who has been more strongly linked with a return to her former housing and local government brief - stressed that she would need 'some persuading' to become Health Secretary. They also insisted that she had not been offered such a job. On Friday, Mr Burnham said he was still finalising his Cabinet choices. No senior politician has apparently yet been given a firm job offer. One veteran Labour MP said: 'Everyone's so much in the dark that they keep bumping into each other!' Senior Labour MP and former minister Graham Stringer told The Mail on Sunday: 'If Andy Burnham is serious about making the scale of changes he promised on Friday, he will have to think about going to the country and getting his own mandate.' He added: 'Unifying the party is a noble aim but you cannot unify the party on a blank cheque. 'You cannot take people with you if you do not tell them where they are going.'