The debate forced Burnham to distance himself from Streeting’s stance, saying while there was a case to rejoin the EU in the long term, he would not campaign on the issue in the by-election if selected as Labour’s candidate.
“My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments,” he said Monday in a speech that sounded like a pitch to be leader.
He said a vote for him would be “a vote to change Labour”.
Starmer said he would “one hundred percent” support whoever was named the Labour candidate for the special election.
“A Labour candidate to beat Reform. That is the fight that we are in,” Starmer said.
“DERAIL” BY-ELECTION
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy insisted that rejoining the EU was a “red line” for Starmer’s government.
“Wes Streeting has left the government. He can have a debate, he can comment, that is not my position,” Lammy told Sky News.
Kemi Badenoch, who leads the main opposition Conservatives, said the Labour in-fighting showed the ruling party “does not have a plan for this country”.
Neither Streeting nor Burnham has formally launched a leadership contest, which would need the backing of at least 81 Labour MPs.
But four junior ministers have resigned and numerous lawmakers have called for Starmer to step down, exposing frictions in a party that has sought to differentiate itself from the chaos of the previous Conservative governments.
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