Labour deputy leader says she thinks energy secretary would suit Treasury but ‘tittle-tattle’ over posts ‘unedifying’

Ed Miliband would make a “good” chancellor to Andy Burnham, Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has said, before the likely next prime minister’s first major speech on the economy since he returned to Westminster.

Powell, who served as Miliband’s chief of staff in opposition and is close to the former party leader, appeared to endorse him to run the Treasury – although some in Burnham’s camp acknowledge such a move could be politically risky.