Burnham faces unrest among Labour big beasts ahead of party conference

Ahead of the gathering in Merseyside, Peter Kyle – who served as Sir Keir Starmer’s business secretary – warned that Mr Burnham was not doing enough to boost economic growth.

Communities Secretary Angela Rayner meanwhile used a pre-conference interview to hit out at plans by her Cabinet colleague Shabana Mahmood to lengthen foreign social care workers’ path to claiming permanent settlement.

The Prime Minister is due to give a speech at the conference on Tuesday, which he hopes will set out the guiding purpose for the rest of Labour’s term in power.

Speaking to the BBC, former minister Mr Kyle suggested the Government needed to make more short-term decisions to boost growth, like slowing the rollout of new workers’ rights.

“We might need to look and have honest conversations with unions about how we sequence some of the rights going forward in order to make sure that we get growth into the economy in the shorter term,” he said.

Mr Kyle insisted he was not making a criticism of the Government, but “pointing to the potential that we have as a country and as a Government”.

Peter Kyle called for decisions to boost growth in the short-term (Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA)

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The senior Labour figure, who also served as science secretary, added: “If the destination means prosperity, it means freedom for people to do new things, and it means security for people and families, then why wouldn’t we put our foot down and get there quicker?”

Elsewhere in an interview with the Times, Ms Rayner hit out at plans to make it harder for migrant workers to claim settled status in the UK, warning it would “change the goalposts”.

The reforms will increase the timeline for permanent residence from five years to 15 years for foreign social care workers, and will apply to all those who have come to the UK since 2021.

The Communities Secretary, who was a vocal opponent of the migration proposals when she sat on the Labour backbenches under Sir Keir, stood by her previous description of the package as “un-British”.

The plans are also opposed by other figures across Labour, and could be the source of a row at the party conference.

Angela Rayner criticised plans to make it harder for migrant workers to claim settled status (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

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Asked whether she had raised the issue with her colleague Ms Mahmood, the Home Secretary, Ms Rayner told the Times: “I think Shabana knows. It was in the newspaper at the time. I have not changed my view on that.”

Ahead of the conference, Mr Burnham used used a marathon broadcast round to “knock dead” a rumour he is considering an early general election.

Writing in this year’s conference guide, Mr Burnham meanwhile described attending the conference as his party’s leader as “a huge honour”.

He added: “I joined our party when I was 15 for the same reason so many of you did – to help change our communities and to build a better, fairer country.

“And that is the focus of this Labour Government.

“For too long, politics has not been working for people across Britain. We need to do better – and we will.”