Andy Burnham announced the election earlier in a special BBC interview

In an exclusive interview with the BBC’s Laura Kunsberg, Andy Burnham bluntly rejected the idea, saying: “I’ve folded the idea of ​​a first general election… I don’t think people want it.”

While explaining his decision, the new Prime Minister suggested that the majority of voters in the last election should “vote a manifesto” and promised to “respect that manifesto” with the support of his parliamentary colleagues.

“I think what I really need is for Britain to focus on getting the country back to where it was and getting back to work,” Burnham continued.

Andy Burnham: Laura Queensberg’s interview will be on BBC News on Sunday and the full interview will be shown on Panorama on BBC One on Monday at 20:00 BST.