ANDY BURNHAM blasted new attacks on Labour leadership rival Jeremy Corbyn yesterday, saying critics have “misread the mood” of the party.

Mr Burnham said that Corbyn-mania gripping the contest is a sign that Labour supporters are “crying out for something different.”

And in an appeal to members in today’s Morning Star, he pledged to break with “negative” campaigning and “lift people with a bigger vision.”

He spoke out after rival candidate Yvette Copper and divisive ex-PM Tony Blair issued yet more dire warnings about Labour’s future if Mr Corbyn is elected leader.

Ms Cooper lashed out at the left candidate in a speech yesterday, accusing him of “offering old solutions to old problems.”

She said voters faced a choice between “a Labour Party back on its feet … and a Tory Britain while Labour walks away.”

Karim Palant, a former policy chief for former shadow chancellor Ed Balls — Ms Cooper’s husband — went further in a Facebook post.

Sharing Ms Cooper’s speech, he wrote: “It’s a two horse race — use all your votes and read this speech. Corbyn&Osborne vs Cooper.”

Mr Blair said Labour members were “walking eyes shut, arms outstretched over the cliff’s edge to the jagged rocks below” by supporting Mr Corbyn.

Hitting back at their comments during a Radio 4 phone-in, Mr Burnham said: “If we’re just attacking people and making dire warnings, it is misreading what people are saying.

“This election needs to bring some change to Labour. It needs to bring a change of style in our politics and deliver members more substance.”

But Mr Burnham also came under fire for the way he has handled Mr Corbyn’s surprise success.

In a letter sent to Labour chiefs on Wednesday, the struggling candidate’s team alleged Mr Corbyn had been given early access to Unite union members’ contact details.

A spokesman for the Unite union called the claims “inaccurate in every respect.”

He told the Star: “These claims are all smears.

“Unite has complied fully with all rules and procedures laid down by the party for the conduct of this election and has not supplied our affiliated membership data to any of the leadership campaigns, including Jeremy Corbyn’s.”