What Are Andy Burnham’s Views on Immigration?
Looks like all roads to No. 10 Downing Street are now leading via Manchester, as Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester’s three-term mayor, the ‘King of the North’, and currently Labour’s most popular figure, emerges as the frontrunner for UK Prime Minister’s office. What does this mean for UK immigration?
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Andy Burnham As the Frontrunner for Number 10
Monday, 22 June 2026.
The newly elected Makerfield MP, Andy Burnham, boarded a train from Manchester to London to attend his swearing-in ceremony in Westminster just minutes after Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation as the UK Prime Minister and Labour Party leader.
From the train itself, Burnham declared his candidacy to replace Starmer on social media. By lunchtime, former Health Secretary and possibly the only other serious contender for the top job, Wes Streeting, ruled himself out of the race and announced his full support for Burnham instead.
Looks like all roads to No. 10 Downing Street are now leading via Manchester, as Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester’s three-term mayor, the ‘King of the North’ (a nickname given to him by British media), and currently Labour’s most popular figure, emerges as the frontrunner for UK Prime Minister’s office.
What Does It Mean for UK Immigration?
What does this mean for UK immigration? This question seems to be the topmost on the mind of everyone concerned. More so because while Labour is going through a leadership crisis, the popularity of the hard-right and anti-immigrant Reform UK party is steadily on the rise.
In this context, let’s revisit what we know about Burnham and his views on UK immigration.
Who Is Andy Burnham?
From a twice-failed leadership candidate (in 2010 and 2015) to frontrunner for the position of Prime Minister, Burnham’s journey is an interesting one, so to speak.
Born and raised between Liverpool and Manchester, Burnham joined the Labour party as a teenager. He was first elected to Parliament in 2001, and rose through the Blair and Brown governments, serving as Culture Secretary and later as Health Secretary. But the pivot of his political career was Manchester.
Burnham became Greater Manchester’s first directly elected mayor in 2017. His public standoff with Boris Johnson over COVID-19 funding for Greater Manchester cemented his reputation as a politician willing to put his city first. When he championed the Hillsborough families’ long campaign for justice, he earned an emotional loyalty that transcended party lines.
It was Burnham’s June 2026 resounding defeat of Reform UK in Makerfield by-election, an area that had just voted for Farage’s party in local elections, that earned him further trust and respect within Labour. With Streeting putting his support behind Burnham and ruling himself out of the succession race, the Makerfield MP is the most likely candidate for the top job now.
Burnham’s critics have often pointed out that his ability to drift toward whatever ideas are in vogue on the left is his greatest political strength. And that could be just the case with his shifting stance on UK immigration.
What Are Burnham's Views on UK Immigration?
Historically, Burnham took more liberal positions than many of his Labour colleagues. He had called for an end to ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF), the rule that prevents many migrants and asylum seekers from claiming benefits or accessing public housing, a policy that has been closely linked to rising homelessness among that population.
In 2023, he and 11 others signed a letter telling the-then Conservative government to “end NRPF in order to end rough sleeping”. He was seen as sympathetic on issues like asylum and integration.
But the Makerfield campaign witnessed a different Burnham. While many doubted a Labour victory in the face of strong right-wing oppositions such as Reform UK and Restore Britain, “open-borders Andy” (as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party likes to call Burnham) recalibrated.
He stepped back from his calls to scrap NRPF. In fact, his team confirmed during the by-election campaign that Burnham no longer stands by his previous demands to scrap the policy. On the campaign trail in June 2026, the Labour leadership hopeful said that UK net migration must “fall further”, although he didn’t outline any specific plans for doing so.
In an interview given to BBC Radio Manchester, he pledged to expand the use of immigration detention centres: “We need to make greater use of detention so that people who have got no basis for a claim are not actually admitted into the country. So that’s dealt with quickly and there’s a speedier return.”
Burnham even went ahead and expressed agreement with Farage.
While criticising the Home Office for housing asylum seekers in more deprived areas of the country, Burnham said: “Local authorities are often just not consulted at all. The Home Office just does what it wants…. What I am calling for is the reform of these Home Office contracts. I do agree with what Farage is saying. What we’ve got to do is get back to a sense of order.”
Will the Direction of UK Immigration Strategy Change Under a Possible Burnham Leadership?
Immigration is likely to be the policy area most closely watched under a Burnham premiership. As a spokesperson confirmed on his behalf, Burnham supports “root and branch reform” of the immigration system.
It has been widely reported that if Burnham is going to become the next Prime Minister, he’s going to keep MP Shabana Mahmood as the home secretary. Mahmood is known as a hardliner when it comes to reducing net migration.
Burnham has rolled back from his earlier critical stand on UK immigration system reforms, and now backs Mahmood’s tougher immigration measures, including stricter citizenship rules and expanded use of detention centres, instead.
“What people don’t want to see is the chaos of the small boat crossings. I think the government is getting some order back into the system but there is definitely more to be done,” he said. “We’ll have to work hard to get the balance right, but the broad thrust of what she’s [Mahmood’s] doing is right.”
What this likely means in practice is continuation rather than revolution. Starmer’s government already implemented tougher immigration rules around sponsorship, settlement and citizenship, and called for an end to permanent refugee status. It doesn’t look like Burnham will reverse any of these if he indeed becomes the next Prime Minister.
For employers, particularly in sectors reliant on international recruitment, relative continuity is expected. Burnham has not called for closing legal UK work visa routes or dismantling the points-based immigration system. Looks like he understands that skills shortages in healthcare, construction, and hospitality sectors cannot simply be waved away by political rhetoric.
What Does a Possible Burnham Leadership Mean for Manchester?
For the people of Greater Manchester, the pride is genuine and significant. A man who spent nearly a decade championing the city is now on the threshold of the highest office in the land.
In fact Burnham’s advocacy for the North, including his persistent argument that Westminster had neglected post-industrial communities across England, resonated far beyond Greater Manchester’s borders, and was central to his political brand. His departure is going to leave a gap.
However, with Burnham emerging as the frontrunner in the race to become the UK’s next Prime Minister, there is now the question of what a Burnham government would actually do for Manchester. His supporters hope that having a Prime Minister who has lived and worked in the North for nearly a decade will mean a genuine rebalancing of investment and power.
His critics, however, worry that Burnham the Prime Minister will be considerably more constrained than Burnham the mayor of Greater Manchester. Will he be able to retain his popularity in the North, and eventually increase his support base across the nation?
The pressures of national office, global markets and politics, the demands of the Labour parliamentary party, and the ever-present threat of Reform UK and Restore Britain on one side and the Greens on the other will all be factors worth considering in this regard.
A Final Chance to Change?
In his Makerfield victory speech, Burnham described the result as Labour’s “final chance to change”. He also proposed a ‘Makerfield test’, where every policy must be judged by whether it works for communities that have long felt neglected by Westminster. But will that apply to immigrants in the UK, especially the asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants?
Burnham, in short, occupies a centrist but somewhat ambiguous position on immigration, rhetorically acknowledging the need to reduce net migration while consistently opposing some of the more restrictive asylum and settlement policies proposed by his own party.
The question of the hour isn’t whether he will be able to curb net migration further in the UK. Statistics show that Starmer already made good progress on that front, but its political impact was undermined by the rise of parties like Reform UK. Many in the UK still believe that net migration is rising, even though the Home Office figures tell a different story.
Whether Burnham will be able to steer the public perception towards his and the party’s favour before the UK goes to general election in 2029, will define the next chapter of British politics.
