The prime minister has rejected calls for him to set out a timetable to stand down if Andy Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election.
Sir Keir Starmer has been under pressure to resign for over a week after Labour was thrashed in the recent elections.
Speaking on Monday, he said he was “not going to do that” when asked if he planned to outline his timetable for quitting and said he still planned to “fight the next election.”
“We’re not at that position, but I’ve said I don’t know how many times that I’m not going to walk away,” he told reporters.
Earlier on Monday, the Greater Manchester mayor said a vote for him is a “vote to change Labour” as he made his pitch to Makerfield voters.
Burnham hopes to be Labour’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election, which could provide him with a route back to Parliament to challenge for the party leadership and the keys to No 10.
Burnham said Labour’s offer to voters had “simply not been good enough”.
In a speech at a northern investment summit in Leeds, he said: “I’m clear about what I am offering. If I get to stand, a vote for me will be a vote to change Labour, because Labour needs to change if we are to regain people’s trust.”
Burnham also made clear he was “not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU”, and warned against re-running the arguments of the Brexit years.
He said it was more important to “focus on what we’ve got in common” ahead of the by-election battle in the Leave-voting Makerfield seat.
Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last week, signalled he wanted to see Britain return to the EU as he confirmed on Saturday he would stand in any Labour leadership race.
‘Makerfield’s no ordinary by-election’: Andy Burnham speaks at summit in Leeds
Burnham’s camp is reportedly furious with Streeting, according to The Times, believing it is a deliberate attempt to increase the salience of Brexit in the Leave-voting constituency of Makerfield.
On Monday, the prime minister told staff the upcoming by-election, triggered after sitting MP Josh Simons quit explicitly so Burnham could run, was a “fight” between Reform and Labour.
He also said he would back whoever was picked as a candidate despite previously blocking Burnham from running in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
Labour holds a majority of 5,399 in Makerfield, with Reform in second, with 18% of the vote.
Reform recently performed very well in local elections in the area, with around 50% of the vote – compared to Labour’s 25% – and winning every councillor seat.
Speaking at the summit in Leeds on Monday afternoon, Burnham said the Makerfield contest would be “no ordinary by-election”.
“In my view, the time has come for a much bigger debate about how politics needs to change if it is to work properly for the North of England, because it doesn’t,” he said.
Burnham is widely expected to launch a leadership challenge if he stands and wins the Makerfield by-election later this year.
After a week of intense speculation over his job, following disastrous results in local and devolved elections, Starmer said he was “focused on the job” as he visited party headquarters on Monday morning.
He said: “So, I am focused on the job that I was asked to do, which is to serve my country and to carry out my duties as prime minister of this country.
‘I’m really sad that we’re talking about contests’: Deputy PM David Lammy brushes off questions on Keir Starmer’s political future
“Delivering for the very many people who voted us into office, who are saying, ‘just get on with it, get on with the job, get on with the change that I need to see in my life’. And that is what I am going to be doing.
“We now have an important by-election coming up. It is Labour versus Reform. We will know very shortly who the candidate is.
“Whoever they are, I am going to support them 100% and I want every member, everyone in our movement, to support them. A Labour candidate to beat Reform. That is the fight that we are in.”
Applications for Labour’s Makerfield candidacy close on Monday, and the party’s ruling National Executive Committee will endorse a candidate on Thursday.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday morning, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy brushed off questions of threats to Starmer’s leadership, telling the programme: “Well, there isn’t a contest.
“I’m really sad that we’re talking about contests. I’m really sad 22 months in, when there is no contest, that we’re having this debate.”
David Lammy tells Good Morning Britain that ‘there is no contest’, despite speculation
In his first sit-down interview since launching his bid to return to Westminster, Burnham told ITV News Investigations Editor Daniel Hewitt that becoming an MP would be the “first stage” in his fight to change both Labour and the country.
“I will take that fight as high as I can take that fight, because I think the country does need to change,” he said.
“I’m standing on a call for change, aren’t I? I think we need to change Labour to some degree so we can change politics, change the country.”
Several media outlets reported that Nigel Farage branded the Greater Manchester Mayor “open borders Burnham”, indicating the Reform leader plans to campaign on the impact future EU membership could have on inward migration to the UK.
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