Peter Kyle savages Burnham's 'dithering' leadership on eve of Labour conference, demanding 'more urgency' on growth

From the Newshound archive · first published 25 September 2026 · last updated 26 September 2026.

Senior Labour figure Peter Kyle has publicly turned on Prime Minister Andy Burnham over his failure to address Britain's weak economic performance, warning that a "growth emergency" inherited from the Starmer era remains unresolved. Kyle, who lost his cabinet seat in Burnham's reshuffle, said the government is not paying "enough focus" to the economy and needs to move more quickly. He likened the UK to a car doing 30mph in the right direction — and floated the idea of delaying workers' rights to attract investment. The attack comes just hours before Burnham's first Labour conference as PM gets under way in Liverpool.

Kyle stopped short of calling it a "criticism", but argued that politicians' pay should rise and fall with economic growth as a spur to action for Britain's "political class".

Burnham arrived at the Liverpool conference vowing to draw "a line under" a decade of "drift and division" since Brexit, promising "hope in every heart".

Former Starmer ministers have reportedly formed a pressure group to challenge Burnham, raising fresh questions about whether he can hold a fractious party together.