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Labour's 'Burnham bounce' continues as the party are now four points ahead of Reform ahead of conference, fresh polling for LBC reveals today.
Andy Burnham is preferred to Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch as PM, research for IPSOS shows.
And Labour is seen as more fit to govern than other parties.
27 per cent say they'll back Labour at the next election, 23 per cent Reform, 21 per cent the Conservatives, and 13 per cent the Greens. The Lib Dems are in the single figures on eight per cent.
Nearly two in three (58 per cent) say Reform UK are an "extreme" party and six in ten say they're not ready for government.
The Prime Minister's recent polling success has renewed calls for a snap election in which the PM could 'seek a mandate' from the people.
Would it be 'political self-sabotage'? Matthew Wright takes to the phones to find out, and our listeners are pretty clear.
00:15 | Matthew surveys the messages
01:09 | Caller Colin: 'PMs are like football managers...'
03:54 | Matthew reacts to his texters' being 'strikingly' against an election
#matthewwright #andyburnham #reform #generalelection #ukpolitics #labour #lbc #polls
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0:00
His only reform vote is the one this year's election
0:02
Look at the way Trump talks about it. Oh, it was a fix. Oh, it was a con. We would get that if reform got anywhere near power
0:08
Maybe he should go to the country early. It's a bit like football managers, isn't it
0:12
Sometimes people don't give him a chance. It's interesting seeing the messages. Broadly, the messages are saying no
0:19
And when I think back nine years, and I was on the telly talking about Theresa May
0:24
it was very different. The mood then was that she should go to the country. And as I said, she lost her majority
0:31
Rob says, for Bernard to say we live in a parliamentary democracy, there's a reason not to call an election is pure hypocrisy
0:37
Because he did just that when the Tories changed leader. And if he does call an election, Labour will lose their massive majority
0:45
And then down here we have Bren saying, I don't want a snap election, it's just a waste of taxpayers' money
0:51
If Andy has a different angle as PM, he should just do it. I want a leader, not a mandate
0:56
Not a mandate. And this from Sal. The British electorate has a history of self-sabotage
1:01
Brexit being a case in point. It would be a mistake for Burnham to roll the dice at this moment
1:06
Colin's on the line in Wembley, North London. Good morning to you, Colin. Oh, hi there, Matthew. How are you doing
1:11
I'm good, thank you. I'm entirely open on this, so I'm up for being persuaded one way or the other
1:16
Yeah, me too. I'm sort of on the fence about it. On the one hand, I think, you know
1:22
Why should we bother with another election going through all that? On the other hand, I think there'll be people always saying
1:30
well, Andy was just, you know, crowned the new king of Labour
1:35
and, you know, it wasn't democratic and all that stuff. So, I mean, if he thinks he's got the backing of, you know, his party and the people
1:44
I think he should go for it, I suppose. I mean, listening to Rachel Maskell, she did quite a powerful job
1:51
I don't think she intended to, but she was actually persuading me that maybe he should go to the country
1:56
because she kept talking about his very different style and approach to politics and I agree he has that but nobody voted for that at the last general election That what the more right side will say isn it
2:12
Well, I'm just thinking, when the Tories were foisting leaders on us, one after another, they were all broadly of the same flavour
2:19
I mean, Liz Truss out on the lunatics fringes, but broadly of the same flavour
2:25
Burnham is doing things differently. Absolutely. I think it's a total sea change. I think it's a total breath of fresh air for politics in this country. I've never seen anything like it in my lifetime. I mean, I'm 16 now, but I think it's the first time we've had such a government
2:43
And, OK, Keir's was, he was good. I think he wasn't given a chance, really
2:47
But, you know, Andy's, Andy's, if you like, the real deal. I think, you know, but I don't know
2:56
I think if he feels he has the back in, then he should
3:00
But there's no real reason to. One might argue that traditionally the trajectory of a prime minister
3:09
is quite a high start and then quite a low end. Yeah, sure, sure
3:16
But everybody's enjoying, or you're certainly enjoying Andy Burnham, where are we now, a couple of months in
3:22
Absolutely. But in two years' time, will we still feel the same or will we be as fed up with him as we were with Keir Starmer
3:28
And thus, I mean, you could argue, if that's the trajectory, the traditional trajectory
3:34
of a Prime Minister's popularity, maybe he should go to the country early
3:39
It's a bit like football managers, isn't it? Sometimes people don't give them a chance, do they
3:43
They want an overnight success, you know, and it takes a while to get a team together, I suppose
3:48
And that message from Sal, that the British electorate has a history of self-sabotage is still ringing in my eyes
3:54
Maybe I am comparing apples with cheese, but I am really quite struck by how little desire there is for Andy Burnham to go to the country And I can help but compare that with the Theresa May episode back in 2017
4:12
when I would say the messages I was getting were diametrically opposite
4:17
I mean, everybody, the overwhelming thing, she should go to the country, she should go to the country
4:21
And that was all about her getting a mandate. So am I to assume that you are, that Andy Burnham has a mandate from you
4:31
despite the fact he's been crowned our PM, that nobody, that he hasn't led the party into an election
4:36
Billy's on the line in Cultures. Good morning, Billy. Hello, Matthew. Yeah, this, we, Labour already has a mandate
4:45
We don't elect presidents here. And you yourself summed it up perfectly a little while ago
4:50
Self-sabotage, mate, just like the Brexit referendum. them, yeah? That was one of the listeners
4:56
Sal, that said that we have a habit of self-sabotage at elections. Well, exactly
5:01
that. Now, what should happen? And Andy Burnham, he's taken a gamble
5:05
to get where he is, you know. He shouldn't chance his luck anymore
5:11
Forward to May 2029, mate. See how they do by then, and hopefully
5:16
they'll get in. There's a problem. I would say, I would say, Matthew, the only
5:21
people who want an election at the moment are reform supporters, yeah
5:25
Well, I mean, if... And this is... Because this entire discussion is based on LBC's poll
5:31
And, I mean, if reform supporters want an election, it would be extremely unlikely, I would think, on polling
5:38
that they would be in government, either leading on their own in power or in a coalition
5:44
It would be Labour or a Labour coalition, I should imagine. All the polls of polls have suggested a coalition
5:52
a rainbow coalition will be the flavour of the next government. Does it bother you
5:57
Can I ask you, let me ask you. I mean when Theresa May you know 2017 did you feel she should go to the country to get a mandate Have we changed our feelings on mandates Well I wanted her to go to the country because I wanted Corbyn to win you sir
6:12
Now I don't want Labour to go to the country because I don't want reform to win, yeah
6:17
So, we only want people, we only want Prime Ministers to go to the country
6:22
when it suits our political desires. Well, yeah, I think that's absolutely true, Matthew
6:26
Like I said, it's only reform voters that want this election. Now, the trouble is something else I'd like to add, Matthew
6:35
You look over the Atlantic, the far-right, right-wing whatever, is in charge there, and look at the way they talk about elections
6:44
Look at the way Trump talks about elections. Oh, it was a fix. Oh, it was a con. We would get that. If reform got anywhere near power
6:51
we would get that all the time. Oh, it was a fix. Oh, it was a con. Let me hit you with this
6:55
This is a message from one of our listeners, Colette, and she says, Burnham led a coup
7:00
He will not go to the country. Now, when you look at how John Healy resigned from government when, you know, Kirsten was
7:08
prime minister and Healy was defence secretary, and then you look at John Healy being crowned
7:14
as chancellor in the Burnham, the unelected Burnham PM government, and then Healy basically
7:22
does the very thing that he resigned over when he was Defence Secretary
7:26
which is pushback spending on defence, it does start, perhaps, to some
7:32
to smell a bit like a coup. And perhaps if we want to make that feeling go away
7:37
he should go to the country. Yeah, but again, you see, self-sabotage
7:41
all right, it was a coup. You know, there's no such thing as perfect democracy
7:46
There's not. Nobody ever gets the government, but they want, you know
7:50
So, you know, you can have the fairest system of democracy in theory
7:55
i.e. to haunt PR, but in the end you get a government that nobody wants, yeah
8:01
I think I'm not going to argue with you there, Billy. There is no such thing as a perfect democracy
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