Andy Burnham has said he believes people 'underestimate' what a 'wrench' it would be for him to leave his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester as he responded to again being touted as a potential leader of his party.

However he said that 'if the call came' to return to government, 'I'm not going to just turn away from it.' Mr Burnham was quizzed about being included on a survey canvassing opinion on potential replacements for Sir Keir Starmer.

The Times reported this week that Mr Burnham was one of eight names included on the survey sent to local Labour parties, where the think tank Labour Together asked activists who 'stood the best chance of leading Labour to electoral victory at the next general election.'

Asked about the development by ITV News , Mr Burnham said it was 'nothing to

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