Andy Burnham to face YOUR questions amid row over dodging scrutiny - but will be able to pick and choose which ones

Andy Burnham is set to face an online grilling by the British public - but has stopped short of ensuring full scrutiny by picking and choosing the questions he will answer.

On Monday, the Labour leadership hopeful fell under fire for refusing to answer questions from furious lobby journalists following his first major speech as Makerfield MP.

After outlining his 10-year plan for No10, he snuck out the backdoor of the People's History Museum in Manchester to dodge engaging with reporters.

And, later today, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester will be delivering much of the same in his "Ask Me Anything (AMA)" session, answering questions on social media website Reddit, where he and his team can select their preferred queries.

He will take questions directly from the 453,000 weekly readers of the r/UKPolitics sub-reddit, along with some of his 141,000 Instagram followers.

Many have accused Mr Burnham of potentially becoming Prime Minister without having faced the wrath of the media over policy issues which is normally delivered during general election campaigns.

It is feared the MP could be catapulted into No10 without a proper grilling and could trigger further calls for a snap national contest.

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Keir Starmer pressured to change law to fast-track deportation of Pakistani child rapist

Sir Keir Starmer has been facing mounting pressure to change the law to fast-track the deportation of a Pakistani child rapist.

Shabir Ahmed, who was ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang, was convicted of 30 child rape offences.

Despite being sentenced to more than two decades behind bars, he was allowed to walk free yesterday.

Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, and Jim McMahon, the Labour MP for Oldham, have demanded Labour search "every available avenue" to deport the criminal.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister asked Shabana Mahmood to see "what can be done" to deport the child rapist.

Andy Burnham grilling to take place online at 5pm

Andy Burnham's online grilling - where he will be able to pick and choose which questions he answers - will take place later this afternoon.

He beckoned his followers to join him on Reddit at 5pm for an "Ask Me Anything" session.

'Running away!' Culture Secretary and Lord Hermer quit X with parting rant at 'misinformation'

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has quit X with a parting shot at so-called "misinformation" on the platform.

The Labour minister announced her decision in her final of more than 10,000 posts on Elon Musk's social media site, adding that her department would also be leaving.

Ms Nandy wrote: "A platform originally designed for free speech and expression now favours abuse and misinformation over meaningful debate.

"It isn't healthy for our democracy or our communities and I don’t want to support it."

DCMS is the second department to leave the platform in a matter of days, after Lord Hermer told the Attorney General's Office to leave X over "racism and misogyny".

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