Hundreds of Labour activists and MPs have ‘made the pilgrimage’ to the seat, where they are pounding the streets

For a few short weeks, the centre of political gravity in Britain has shifted from the Palace of Westminster to the bar of a former Labour club in Wigan.

In London, even as Keir Starmer insists he will fight to stay in No 10, the walls seem to be crumbling around him, especially with Thursday’s resignation of the defence secretary, John Healey.

Labour leadership hopeful says he does not support payments after backlash but is open to other benefits

Andy Burnham has ruled out paying compensation to the “Waspi women” who claim they lost out owing to changes to the state pension age – but said he was open to the idea of giving them other benefits.

Burnham had previously indicated he backed compensating as many as 3.6 million women born in the 1950s, some of whom claim they lost thousands of pounds because they were ill-informed about the changes.

Can anyone or anything stop Andy Burnham becoming PM now, asks Mark Littlewood in his latest Political Betting column as he contemplates breaking his usual rule and taking the 2/5 odds-on bet.

The post Can Anyone or Anything Stop Andy Burnham Now? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Government confirms Jarvis’s move from role as security minister to replace John Healey

Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, is about to hold a press conference about last night’s rioting.

Andy Burnham is facing criticism after saying that he thinks the Waspi women should be entitled to “some” compensation.

I’ll stick by the Waspi women because they deserve some recompense for the unfairness.

One government figure decried Burnham’s intervention as “pathetic”, adding: “He can’t say no to anyone.”

An ally of Sir Keir Starmer likened Burnham’s economic agenda to that of hard-left former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and argued that the mayor’s intervention would harm his chances of manoeuvring the prime minister out of Downing Street.

Andy Burnham’s continued support for Waspi women is both welcome and hugely refreshing. While some politicians have broken their promises, it takes real courage to speak out and say what millions of people across the country and hundreds of MPs from all parties already know - that 1950s-born women deserve justice.

Andy has always recognised the unfair way in which state pension equalisation was introduced.

As mayor of Greater Manchester, he supported Waspi women in the city-region with early access to concessionary travel, providing some recompense to them within affordability limits.