Nicola Sturgeon 'wants Andy Burnham to do well as Prime Minister'
The former first minister also said she thinks the Prime Minister cannot avoid a snap general election - even though he ruled one out just days ago
Nicola Sturgeon said she “wants Andy Burnham to do well” because “the entirety of the UK needs that to happen”.
The former first minister also said she thinks the Prime Minister cannot avoid a snap general election - even though he ruled one out just days ago.
Appearing on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg Show, Ms Sturgeon said the PM’s approach of “telling it as it is” was “the right one”.
But she warned that “political capital dissipates quickly” and urged him to “get on and do these things.”
Speaking after Ms Kuenssberg’s interview with Chancellor John Healey, Ms Sturgeon said: “I've got huge sympathy [for the fiscal position the UK Government is in], and in a sense, that's why listening to that, I felt quite frustrated.
“Because I think Andy Burnham... I'm not a Labour politician. I think everybody knows that.
“But I find myself wanting him to do well, wanting him to succeed because I think the entirety of the UK needs that to happen.
“He's got this enormous stock of political capital and goodwill. He needs to get on and use it.
“Because I know political capital dissipates quickly, and you find yourself then looking back, thinking: ‘Oh, I wish I'd done more with it sometimes.’
“So get on and do these things.”
Ms Sturgeon said Mr Healey had been “weirdly hesitant” in his interview with Ms Kuenssberg.
The former FM said: “I mean, nobody wants market turmoil, so that, in a sense, is the the minimum a budget needs to do.
“But if that becomes the be all and end all of a budget, nothing is going to change in in the country.
“I thought that was a really strange interview, to be blunt about it.
“It was weirdly hesitant, very low energy, and he sounded as if he was just trying not to say anything of any great significance.
“And I think it crystallised one of the dangers for Andy Burnham's government.
“His whole approach, and for what it's worth, I think it's the right one, is that he's going to tell it as it is.
“He's not going to shy away from the big challenges. He's going to speak fluent human, and he's the one who's going to roll up his sleeves, level with the public, and make big fundamental changes.
“He's got a lot of political capital right now. The danger for him is if they slip back to what I think we just heard from John Healey, very conventional politician interviews trying to speak without saying anything, then that political capital will start to dissipate.
“And he will lose the opportunity he's got right now, and the good faith and goodwill he's got from sections of the public to get things done.
“And I think that's the danger Andy Burnham is really falling into right now.
She added that she cannot see how the PM avoids an early general election, even though he ruled one out last week.
Ms Sturgeon said: "He has very, very limited, almost no fiscal room for manoeuvre. But he also has no political mandate for the big reforms he wants to make and I find it really difficult to see how he avoids a general election in the relatively near term."
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