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Burnham says Labour didn’t win, and expresses doubts about Lib-Lab coalition

Andy BurnhamBy Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

UPDATE: Since this was written a couple of hours ago, it now looks like the Tories and Lib Dems have struck a deal, and that Gordon Brown will resign as Prime Minister within the next 18 hours, and that David Cameron will take the keys to Number 10. Labour will be the opposition. We’ll have some serious discussions over the next few days and weeks, but for now, keep an eye on the Twitter feed on the right, and the TV news.

The chances of a flimsy agreement between Labour and the Lib Dems is ebbing.

According to Paul Waugh, Andy Burnham has just said:

“I think we have got to respect the results of the general election and we can’t get away from the fact that Labour didn’t win.”

This follows from Burnham’s apparent comments last night in cabinet that it would be bad for democracy were Labour and the Lib Dems to go into a coalition together as the second and third most popular parties in the election.

Andy Burnham is the first cabinet minister to express publicly his concerns about the meaning of a Lib-Lab pact.

Alex is the founder and CEO of The Cares Family. He was editor and first director of LabourList in 2009-2010, during which time he established the site as the number one Labour blog, and later an aide to Ed Miliband.

View all articles by Alex Smith
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