Burnham starts to sketch out vision but faces policy questionspublished at 09:59 BST
Chris Mason
Political editor
Burnham will give what his team has called “his first major leadership speech” later and will promise to “lift Britain back up to where it should be”.
In an address at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, the new MP for nearby Makerfield will say as prime minister he would “give Britain the circuit breaker it needs”.
His inner circle describe it as “the foundational text” of his programme for government.
As such, it is expected to be broad based.
It is not thought he will take any questions from reporters afterwards, which will likely raise eyebrows from some given his lack of a mandate from the electorate.
His team insist this won’t be part of “a pattern” of avoiding scrutiny – but that will come later in the campaign.
Three weeks from today, he could become prime minister, assuming, as is widely expected, he doesn’t face a contest for the Labour leadership.
In the next three weeks, he has to charm Labour MPs, sell his vision to the country, decide who will serve in his government and wrestle with the huge challenges that currently face Keir Starmer.
How will he pay for our defence? What about social care? How will he manage his relationship with US President Donald Trump?
These are three of the dozens of huge questions that confront a man who wasn’t even an MP a fortnight ago.
