Labour MPs set out plan to try and push Andy Burnham leftwards

The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs believes that changing the party’s leader isn’t enough. Instead, it is trying to encourage Andy Burnham (or whoever else becomes the next Labour leader) to pull the party back towards more left-wing positions.

In a statement, the MPs criticised the dominant Labour right for ‘chasing Reform voters‘ with right-wing positions. The small minority of 24 left-leaning Labour MPs want “immediate bold steps” that understand the “deep structural changes” Labour should be pushing to “reverse over forty years of neoliberalism“.

MP Ian Byrne shared an image of the key changes the Socialist Campaign Group are calling for:

Labour doesn’t just need a new leader – it needs a fundamental change of direction.

Thanks to @LabourOutlook for publishing the full statement from the Socialist Campaign Group on our key policies for the next Labour leader.

🔗 Read it here in full: https://t.co/fi9OzTgURE pic.twitter.com/xTUMikTlPz

— lan Byrne MP (@IanByrneMP) July 2, 2026

In many ways, it looks very much like the vision Zack Polanski has been pushing as leader of the Green Party in recent months, calling for sanctions on Israel over the Gaza genocide, an end to Palantir‘s access to NHS data, and nationalising utilities. And Polanski himself has already presented Burnham with an ultimatum on such issues.

Will Burnham change anything for Labour?

While we hope Andy Burnham does make such changes in Labour, we very much doubt that will happen (because of both his past and present). But he’s, at the very least, trying to make some small noises to acknowledge the pressure from his left.

This is why @TheGreenParty are necessary.

Without noise and pressure from that direction this would not be being discussed / potentially happening.

Let’s hope @andyburnham follows through and @ZackPolanski keeps the pressure on. https://t.co/tU0hQycxew

— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) July 2, 2026

For example, he has essentially promised:

an end to trickle-down economics… an end to neoliberalism

People are giving up on politics.

This is our last chance to change – that’s why we need a new way of doing things. pic.twitter.com/XfFm2YhePG

— Andy Burnham (@andyburnham) July 2, 2026

The BBC has reported, however, that Burnham will not stray from:

the pledges Labour made not to raise VAT, income tax or national insurance in its general election manifesto in 2024.

That’s despite Labour under Keir Starmer having already strayed from its 2024 manifesto in many ways. There was no manifesto pledge, for example, to crack down on our right to protest on behalf of a genocidal apartheid state. But that’s exactly what Starmer’s Labour have done.

Despite promising to stick to Starmer’s manifesto, though, Burnham said:

there is some room within that manifesto for movement on tax.

According to the BBC, he suggested increasing some warehouse business rates to cover:

tax cuts for pubs and some high-street businesses.

But that may be a challenge. Because if he’s going to confine himself to the Starmer regime’s financial straitjacket, he will absolutely struggle to fund the new and highly controversial government handout to the arms industry. And he’s already pledged to continue with that, saying:

I will take my responsibilities fully to fund the defence investment plan

Burnham is trying hard to be everything to everyone – making some progressive sounds while largely promising to stick with Starmer’s right-wing path. But whether it’s from Zack Polanski’s Greens or the Socialist Campaign Group, the pressure from the left to follow through on at least some of the progressive sounds is unlikely to go away.

Featured image via the Canary