Enda Brady: UK correspondent on Labour beating out Reform in new poll ahead of Clacton by-election

Labour has taken the lead over Reform in a new poll - days before Nigel Farage will face judgement from voters in the Clacton by-election.

The latest survey puts Prime Minister Burnham’s party on 28 percent, three points ahead of Reform on 25 percent.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says Burnham's in place to call a snap election as early as next year, provided he can avoid major political blunders. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the Brady UK Correspondence. So that's allow indo.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey, Heather, great to be back with you. Hey.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Now they're a hit of reform, are they because of Boonham?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yes? The Burnham bounce continues, So very good news today
for any left leaning people who support labor. Andy Burnham
only barely two and a half weeks into the job
and he has overtaken all the other parties and is
now ahead of Reform for the first time in eighteen months.
So Labor move up to twenty four percentage points and
Reform have gone down to twenty two. The big question

(00:32):
now is if you're Andy Burnham, do you call a
snap election? Do you? I think he could. I think
it'd be likely to be early next year. Though he
is a gambler, he's also a very smart man and
I think the calculation would be that the right is
completely split. The Conservatives seemed to be going nowhere under

(00:54):
Kenny BADENOK, and then you've got Forage. And the conundrum
is have we seen peak refe have we seen peak Forage?
Are they at their most brittle point where he can
break them? And I think if you were to walk
out into the street now, any street in any town
in Britain and say who would you like as your
next prime minister. I think the majority of people are

(01:15):
going to say Andy Burnham. Interesting, I really do. It's
an interesting one. Does he go for it?

Speaker 1 (01:20):
How long do you reckon? He can maintain it?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Look, providing there are no blunders or clangers or major
policy disasters that we kept seeing Starmer flip flopping on
saying one thing and then realizing that was a terrible idea.
I think Burnum's far more in tune with people's thinking
out there. The cost of living stuff he's doing is
being very well received. I think he can maintain it.

(01:46):
Like I say, just avoid the big blunders.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, interesting stuff. I mean one of the things that
he's really struggled with is what to do with these
killers and whether to let them out or not. So
what's he going to do?

Speaker 2 (01:55):
So the latest we have on this this is the
case of the men responsible for killing PC Andrew Harper
from Thames Valley Police seven years ago. Horrible, horrible case.
He went to my children's school. His family live in
the local area here in South Oxfordshire. A fine young man,
serving police officer, only just married. They were honeymooners, and

(02:15):
he responded to the theft of one of those quad
bite things. Harper's foot got caught up in a rope
that was being used to steal it, and those men
dragged a police officer, Andrew Harper to his death seven
years ago. Now two of them were convicted of manslaughter,
given thirteen years. Believe it or not, they've served half.

(02:36):
They're now eligible for early release. And what Andy Barnham
is telling his officials inside Downing Street, inside the ministry
a justice find any mechanism possible to stop those men
being eligible for early release. And I've just seen PC
Harper's mother, Debbie on TV here this morning. There is
a petition now to keep them in prison, which is

(02:57):
going to tip over one million signatures today to see something.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Now, you guys got another heat wave coming of.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
In yes, fifth to one of a summer, so it's
going to hit thirty five celsius on Thursday. Would you
believe in London and the south of England we are
in drought. Basically two thirds of England is in drought.
I can't remember the last time I saw rain in Ireland.
We certainly I've seen it in Ireland this year. Not
in England. Everything is parched. Flew back from holidays the

(03:26):
other day, flew over so much of England on the
way in. I was just looking. It was like flying
over a dust bowl. Everything is. It's not even yellow,
it's not even straw. It's just the earth is just parched.
I ran yesterday and the ground feels so hard, harder
than it was in Spain. I mean, this is just insane.
So yes, heat wave number five incoming. This is not normal, Heather,

(03:48):
this is just so far from our experience. It is
beyond bad.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Make did you see You're not supposed to go out
on the sun if you've taken the ibuprofen makes you
burn worse.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Well, Irish skin. Get back to me on that one.
My tube journey to look forward to now.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Believe it or not, hear you people are already in trouble.
Thank you, Inda, appreciate it. Into Brady UK corresponding.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
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