'Get Rid': Labour Leadership Hopeful Andy Burnham Says He Would Ban VAR

Andy Burnham goes for his morning run on May 16. Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has said he would ban Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in football if he could. The would-be prime minister said the controversial review system was “killing spontaneity [and] it’s not getting decisions right.” Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, plans to challenge Keir Starmer if he wins next month’s crucial Makerfield by-election. He has been cleared by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) to stand to be the party’s candidate in the seat. Sitting Labour MP Josh Simons, who won with a 5,399 majority at the 2024 general election, announced on Thursday that he was standing down to make way for Burnham. In an interview with ITV on Saturday, football fan Burnham was asked what he thought of VAR. He said: “Gone. Get rid. I’ll tell you why. It’s killing spontaneity in the ground. I’m a season ticket holder at Everton. Killing spontaneity. You can’t celebrate a goal because you think someone somewhere in an industrial unit is going to rule it out. “So that’s a bad thing. But number two, it doesn’t get decisions right. You could put up with it if it then got decisions right, but it doesn’t get the decisions right and it’s not consistent. “It takes a decision one week for one favoured team and then doesn’t do the same thing the next. “So it’s killing spontaneity, it’s not getting decisions right. Get rid.” NEW: Andy Burnham says he would ban VAR if he had the power "You can't celebrate a goal because you think someone, somewhere in an industrial unit is going to rule it out" pic.twitter.com/11oGJ295fL — Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) May 16, 2026 Subscribe to Commons People , the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster. Related... Labour MP Quits Seat To Let Andy Burnham Make MP Comeback And Launch Labour Leadership Bid Keir Starmer Ally Tells Andy Burnham To Forget Trying To Become Labour MP Before General Election Exclusive: Former Labour Minister Calls For Andy Burnham To Replace Keir Starmer

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