I know Burnham recently said he wouldn't hold an election in the next 12 months, but maybe the polling will persuade him otherwise. If the polling is good for Labour then surely it's a good time to have an election. He could secure a more ambitious manifesto and keep Reform out of number 10 for at least five years.

But of course it would be a risk. In 2017, Theresa May called an election because the polling didn't look too bad for the Tories, and then during the election campaign, the Tory vote declined while the Labour vote rose.