'Reform is ready... BRING IT ON!' | Robert Jenrick DARES Andy Burnham to call general election

Tonight there's only one story in town isn't there? The resignation of Sir Keir Starmer. Andy Burnham has now been sworn in as the Labour MP for Makerfield following last Thursday's by-election victory. He's expected to become Labour's next leader. Well here's what reform UK leader Nigel Farage has had to say. What is going on here frankly is reminiscent of a banana republic that has totally devalued the very process of general elections and democracy. I demand, we at Reform demand, a general election. Well joining us now is Reform UK Treasury spokesperson Robert Gemre. Thank you very much. Great to have you. Is reform ready for a general election? Should there be one? Yeah absolutely we're ready and bring it on. You've got Andy Burnham coming down to London. He's got the mandate of one constituency. He didn't even stand at the last general election on the Labour Party's manifesto. He doesn't seem to know what he's going to do. He is now going to take at least three weeks to come up with some policies and a cabinet and choose his chancellor if he hasn't already done a deal with West Street. Maybe it's going to be longer than that. Maybe the whole thing drags on over the summer in which case we just have a lost summer when literally no one is running our country. This has got to come to an end. We need to have a general election and I tell you it's not just the drift and the delay and the lack of a mandate. It is that Andy Burnham is going to turn out to be Keir Starmer in a polo shirt. He's going to be exactly the same kind of leader. He's trapped in the same mindset. It's going to be high taxes to pay for people on benefits. It's going to be high energy bills for Ed Miliband's madness with net zero. He's not going to stop the boats and secure our borders. If you want real change in this country, which is what I believe millions and millions of people are seeking, the only way we can get that is if we have a general election and get Labour out. Okay, all right. I wonder if it might be a slight case of be careful what you wish for. There was some polling, I'm sure you've seen this, by Ipsos I believe earlier today which basically a straight head-to-head of Nigel Farage versus Andy Burnham. Now, Nigel Farage beats Burnham when it comes to personality, okay, which is not so much of a shock. However, on everything else Andy Burnham does win. Things like, is he in touch with ordinary people? Is he a likeable person? Is he an experienced leader? Which is a bit odd, but anyway. Is he a capable leader? Burnham wins. Is he good in a crisis? Burnham wins. That kind of that kind of stuff. Yeah, sure Patrick, but he hasn't yet been tested. That hasn't hit the reality of actually running the country and I am confident that he'll be found out by the British public pretty quickly. There's nothing more important than keeping your money and your identity safe online and with so many VPN options available choosing the right one can be pretty daunting, but this video's sponsor ExpressVPN is making the ExpressVPN is offering up to 75% off plus four extra months free. That's top level security from just £2.49 a month and you're covered by their 30-day money-back guarantee. So just click the link in this video's description or scan the QR code. Now, remember when you're online you are often sharing personal data so hackers can steal your information, your passwords, your photos and your bank details in just seconds, but ExpressVPN encrypts your connection making it virtually impossible for hackers to access your personal information. So why choose ExpressVPN? 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Well not especially no, I mean these are all human sagas and politicians are are just human beings at the end of the day but you are the leader of our country and invested in you is an incredible responsibility and the truth was that Keir Starmer was fundamentally unsuited to be Prime Minister. He was not a leader and worse than that he broke his promises to the British public and he's just the latest in a long line of Prime Ministers who did that. He said we're going to do one thing did the opposite and where are we as a country? Well we've continued to drift and decline for another two years and I just worry that unless we arrest this decline at some point is going to be too late for this country and for people like you and I for our kids you know we were bringing up I just worry that at some point this is going to be we're going to go too far down this line and you've got to have someone to come and actually grip this country and get it back on its feet that was not Keir Starmer he didn't even really try I don't believe it's going to be Andy Burnham that is why we need a general election so we can get somebody with courage and conviction to be our Prime Minister with a clear sense of direction and get this country back on its feet and I think that's Nigel and it is reform. Look I know that that some people on the left will be saying well look when you switch from the Tories to reform you know you didn't have a by-election in your seat so why should we have a general election now Andy Burnham he's won the mandate of the people of Makerfield. Well I tell you one thing he campaigned for a general election when there were previous changes of Prime Minister so he would be a massive hypocrite wouldn't he if now he finds himself in exactly the same position as Boris and Liz and Rishi when he was firing off tweets back in the day if he went into Number 10 and didn't call a general election that's the difference here that he campaigned in the past for others to do exactly the same. Okay all right and of course it does mean several other things as well I mean Rachel Reeves probably goes she had a face like thunder today I think she realised she might have to go back and work in the complaints department. I don't think the country will mourn the loss of Rachel Reeves and I guess she can dust off that famous CV and say that she was Chancellor for 10 years like she was an economist to the Bank of England for 10 years but look I mean the of course there's a degree of personal sympathy for people in difficult times but if you look at what Rachel Reeves has done over the course of the last two years the disastrous decisions that she made to hike taxes on business so it's harder to employ people 200,000 more people out of work what she did for small businesses for pubs and hospitality for farmers you know I literally met with GB News the son of a farmer who had hung himself yeah you know a day before her first budget because he was so fearful of the family farm tax that actually came in and so there have been real life tragedies immense harm done to our country over the course of the last two years with Rachel Reeves as our Chancellor. So just finally on this now you want a general election you know and there's obviously a strong case for that just kind of democratically speaking absolutely but slightly fearful of a Tory bounce I mean they won Aberdeen South didn't they and Cammy Baden-Ox had a bit of a bump in the polls recently. I think that the Tory party is basically irrelevant they exist in pockets of the country like the sort of right-wing Lib Dems if you can call them that you know maybe they're in Aberdeen most salubrious suburb maybe they're in Kensington and Wandsworth but they're not in Newark and Nottinghamshire they are not a national party anymore and it is more clear than ever today that if a general election comes in the next few months or indeed in three years it will be a straight choice do you want Andy Burnham and Labour to run this country or do you want Nigel and Reform and the only reason that Labour have got rid of Keir Starmer today is because they're so worried that Reform is going to win the next general election because of the election results in May because what they're seeing and hearing on the doorsteps across the country. All right Robert thank you very much for your time as always Robert Jemmett there who is Reform UK's Treasury spokesperson the message is loud and clear isn't it their general election now.