The Deputy Labour leader and passionate Manchester City fan claimed that it would be a ‘mistake’ not to have the Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in the ‘squad’
Leaving Andy Burnham out of Westminster is like Phil Foden not making the England squad, Lucy Powell has claimed.
The Deputy Labour leader and passionate Manchester City fan called for “the best players to be on the pitch”, and that it would be a “mistake” not to have the Greater Manchester Mayor in the “squad”.
Ms Powell was speaking in a week that saw the England World Cup squad unveiled, with both Foden and Chelsea star Cole Palmer failing to make the cut.
Discussing what the rumoured leadership contender brings to Westminster as he fights the Makerfield by-election, the Manchester Central MP claimed the Labour party would be better with Mr Burnham in the Commons.
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She said: “Andy has got a really strong track record of standing up for ordinary working people. People around here know that about Andy. He stands up against injustice. He stands up for economic renewal, and he’s a great communicator. I think we the Labour Party nationally and the Labour Government would benefit greatly from having him contributing and him kind of leading the way and representing the people of Makerfield in Westminster and that’s what he wants to do.
“I’ve always said we need our best players on the pitch. Just as we’re just as we’re finding out the squad for the World Cup, and we’ve all got opinions about the qualities of different players, some of whom have been left out and some of whom have made it.
“As a City fan, I kind of feel like Andy Burnham is a bit like Phil Foden. He’s absolutely brilliant, he’s someone you want to have on the pitch. I think it’s a mistake of Tuchel to leave out Phil Foden, and it would be a mistake for Labour to continue to sort of leave out Andy Burnham and the qualities that he can bring to the team.”
Ms Powell, who has claimed the former Health Secretary is not planning a leadership bid, also called for MPs to come together and unite or risk letting Nigel Farage into Downing Street.
She said: “We’ve absolutely got to rally together because there’s just a huge amount at stake. We’ve had some really difficult election results. What we’re seeing is the sort of fracturing of politics, we’re seeing huge structural challenges in our economy and a massive amount of global instability, which affects us here at home all the time.
“It can only be Labour that defeats that and addresses those issues and defeats the politics of hate and division. We’ve got to pull together, and I’m determined that we do pull together, to take that on because if we don’t, then what we’re going to see is Nigel Farage walking up Downing Street and none of us can let that can let that happen because his answer to what’s wrong with the country will just make the inequalities that we see and the deep unfairness, we’ll just see that growing and growing and growing.”