Andy Burnham vows to ‘rewire’ British state

UK’s prime minister-in-waiting takes aim at centralisation and promises voters help on living costs

Andy Burnham has set out sweeping plans for greater state control over essential utilities, the biggest council housebuilding programme for 50 years and fresh help to tackle the cost of living crisis.

In his first major speech as Britain’s prime minister-in-waiting, Burnham also promised to accelerate plans for greater devolution of power, saying the UK’s current model had left Londoners with “an overheated economy”.

The former Greater Manchester mayor is on track to become UK prime minister on July 20, following Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to step down after poor election results.

He used his speech at Manchester’s People’s History Museum to insist that he would stick to the fiscal rules inherited from Rachel Reeves, who he is expected to remove as chancellor.

However, he promised to help voters with their living costs, admitting that people could not wait indefinitely for change.

“People need a bit extra now to help with rising costs. I will do my very best to deliver it and, while not taking risks with public finances, will seek to give Britain some breathing space, people need to be able to look forward to a night out or a holiday with the kids. People need hope,” he said.

Burnham sought to quell speculation about senior appointments, saying there would be no announcement about his cabinet before he is in Downing Street.

With senior figures such as Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood jostling to be chancellor, Burnham promised an “inclusive team at the very highest level” but said he would not be making appointments “until the end of this process”.

Burnham also promised to “ensure all parts of the UK [would be] able to take greater public control of essential services like water, housing, energy and transport”, in a sign that they could be run from cities and regions rather than centrally nationalised. 

He said this would be part of “10-year plans to bring down the cost of these essentials”, suggesting a more gradual transition than immediate nationalisation.

Burnham said this would involve “learning from the model that has transformed our bus networks here in Greater Manchester”, which is privately owned but directed by the mayor.

In a suggestion that he would legislate to force Whitehall to act more in the interest of the regions, Burnham said “No 10 North”, a new part of the Downing Street operation based in Manchester, would be “given a mission to strive for equivalent living conditions in all parts of Britain”.

Burnham said he was determined to repair the public housing stock, after the country sold off almost 1.5mn units of social housing since the 1980s, through a “housing first philosophy”. He vowed: “No 10 North will see the biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period.”

He said that more than 1mn people were on housing waiting lists and had been stuck there for years because of the lack of council housing. “The country is in a housing trap. We are forced to chase rents in the private rented sector through the benefits system.”

The new “No 10 North” hub, which the FT first reported last week, would allow power to flow to the Midlands, the South West and London, as well as the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, Burnham said.

It would co-ordinate different parts of national and local government with the aim of helping regions to set long-term economic strategy.

Burnham also said it would borrow from Germany, where the federal government is legally required to share income tax and VAT revenues with local regions, and requires fiscal equalisation to reduce disparities between richer and poorer areas.

A longtime critic of the whipping system used to enforce party discipline, Burnham promised to change the culture of Westminster and said he would be “letting MPs be authentic representatives, and not using the whip system to create fear or close down debate”.

However, he warned the party that “the political direction I set is not up for negotiation”.

Ahead of Burnham’s speech, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch warned that the country was “headed for a summer of chaos”, with the economy “left in limbo” due to the lack of clarity over the policies and key appointments of the “caretaker prime minister”.