ANDY Burnham has said it again. The Manchester mayor has told Westminster’s The House magazine that he wants to scrap Labour’s ban on running candidates in Northern Ireland.

Mr Burnham made the same call in his previous two campaigns for the party leadership in 2010 and 2015.

He was a Blairite in 2010 and a centrist in 2015 but he is now pitching towards the left, where lifting the ban is an unpopular cause, so it is useful to know he still holds this view.

It could be said only half in jest this is his most deeply-held conviction, as he appears to swing with the wind on everything else.

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There has been some evolution in Mr Burnham’s position. He linked lifting the ban to his aim of introducing proportional representation for Westminster elections, claiming this could turn head-on competition with Northern Ireland parties into “collaboration”.

“It would obviously require careful conversations with our sister party, the SDLP, and with other political parties in Northern Ireland. I wouldn’t want to blunder in and create an issue,” he added.

The SDLP is unlikely to be impressed.

Mr Burnham also spoke about replacing the House of Lords with an elected senate of the nations and regions, a........

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