Afternoon summary
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast is out. It features Lucy Hough and Josh Halliday talking about Andy Burnham’s speech.
Updated
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, made it clear at her press conference this morning that she does not believe in further devolution. (See 10.56am.) And, in his video response to Andy Burnham, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also claimed that devolution in London, Wales and Scotland had in some respects backfired.
But that is not a universal view on the right. The Institute of Economic Affairs, a rightwing thinktank, has in principle backed what Burnham is proposing. Valentin Boboc, a senior economist at the IEA, said:
Andy Burnham is right that growth cannot be legislated into existence from Whitehall. His call for a more streamlined state, with decisions pushed towards local governments, is welcome.
The question is whether we are willing to give local governments responsibilities as well as powers, together with regulatory independence. After all, the key to devolution enabling growth is the ability of regions to test different regulatory environments and fiscal programmes, and compete to discover which setups work best, incentivised by the fact that the gains from growth are retained locally.
If devolution means handing out funds whilst keeping everything else bound by the same rules, it won’t make a material difference to the obstacles to growth we currently face.
Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, has described Andy Burnham’s speech as “a good start”. In a statement, she said:
It is clear that Andy has been in listening mode. Britain needs a vision that deals with its current rampant inequality and jobs vacuum. Actions will speak louder than words but this is the start of a discussion about a better path for workers and communities.
The Local Government Association has welcomed Andy Burnham’s speech. Its chair, Louise Gittins, a Labour councillor, said:
Successive devolution agreements have demonstrated that devolving powers to local communities is the best way of unlocking the potential of people and their places, while boosting inclusive economic growth.
It is now vital that the government steps up its ambition to deliver genuine devolution right across England, giving councils who know their communities the power to tackle long-standing local and national challenges, including driving infrastructure investment, plugging skills gaps, building more affordable housing and boosting productivity.
Former Tory MP Craig Williams pleads guilty to cheating at gambling with election bets
A close aide to the former prime minister Rishi Sunak has pleaded guilty to cheating at gambling with bets on the date of the 2024 general election.
The Labour MP Luke Charters reckons the most significant thing about Andy Burnham’s speech is how it was covered on the Guardian’s busines live blog. He says:
The biggest political story today hasn’t been covered yet.
During Andy’s speech, borrowing costs dipped, the pound rose and gilts settled.
Having worked in the City, I know markets respond well to credible growth plans.
Andy’s record as Mayor speaks for itself.
And he has posted this screenshot.
Here is some comment from journalists and commentators on Andy Burnham’s speech.
From Patrick Maguire from the Times
Slipped almost imperceptibly into Burnham’s case for devolution and a cultural revolution in Westminster – including the loosening of the whip – was this: “The political direction I set will not be up for negotiation.” Bet is that the PLP can be led if they don’t feel coerced.
From Steve Richards, the broadcaster and writer
Andy Burnham speech: Finally a coherent accessible counter to failed 1980s’ orthodoxies.. wise not to take questions from political editors who use the platform to perform a turn for their viewers/ editors ...and also smart not to announce chancellor before rest of cabinet.
From Lewis Goodall from the News Agents podcast
There are plenty of details to be ironed out and contradictions to be gone through (do devolution and equality always go together?) But Burnham’s team will be v happy with that. Everything in it was designed to maintain his sense of insurgency- and for now, at least, he is.
From Fraser Nelson from the Times
The idea that devolution seriously improves public services has been robustly tested in Scotland and Wales.
Perhaps why 9 out of 11 English cities rejected the idea of mayors in the 2012 referendums.
To double down on this model is a risk…
From the author and Comment is Freed Substacker Sam Freedman
I’ve really struggled to understand why people keep saying it’s not clear what Burnham wants to do given few incoming PM’s have ever been clearer about it. Whether it will work, or survive the trade-offs in government, is a different question.
I am genuinely excited about a PM who will be serious about devolution. If done right it could give people more sense of control about their locality; free up Whitehall to focus on big strategic issues; and make it harder for a future national govt to burn everything down.
The biggest argument against devolution is that some regions/authorities will screw up. Which they will. But you still free up capacity in the centre and you still give people more control over what happens where they live.
From Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor
Andy Burnham has promised major reform of business rates to revive high streets - as they are a barometer for the success and happiness of UK regions. Business rates currently raise around £27 billion - half of which goes to local authorities - half to central government. A cut to rates bills would mean less money for either central government, local government, or both. But listening to the rest of the speech you’d have to bet that local authorities would not be the ones to take a hit
From the Spectator’s James Heale
Today’s speech underlines how important Burnham’s Chancellor will be. His appointee will effectively be signing up to a massive loss of power and status on day one. Echoes of George Brown and the DEA.
These are from Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who is now parliamentary leader of Your Party, on the Andy Burnham speech.
Devolution is welcome, but it is not enough to fix the crises facing us all.
We will never bring about real change without a mass redistribution of wealth, ownership & power.
Public ownership. Wealth taxes. Rent controls. That must be the basis for a real alternative. [1/3]
Starmer went after the sick and disabled to fund his thirst for war. Repeating this strategy would be a catastrophic mistake.
Instead of wasting billions on weapons, we should invest in schools, renewable energy and our NHS.
That is what real security means. [2/3]
Palestine is the litmus test.
Britain must end all arms sales to Israel, impose real sanctions, and establish an independent inquiry into Britain’s participation in genocide.
Anything less will be a continuation of Britain’s complicity in the greatest crime of our time. [3/3]
Here is the Guardian’s Owen Jones on Andy Burnham’s speech.
And this is his conclusion.
Starmerism did not implode because of vibes, but because of its failure to address a broken economic model. We still do not know who Burnham will appoint as his chancellor. Only Ed Miliband would offer a hope of overcoming the suffocating Treasury orthodoxy that has condemned Britain to stagnation and decline. That’s without even dealing with a parliamentary Labour party stuffed full of rightwingers by Starmer’s allies. A change in vibes, alas, will not overcome the crises that have fuelled Britain’s age of discontent.
Plaid Cymru challenges Burnham to ensure his commitment to devolution covers Wales too, and not just England
Plaid Cymru has challenged Andy Burnham to ensure that his commitment to devolution extends to Wales, and not just England.
Responding to Burnham’s speech, Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid’s leader at Westminster, said:
While there were fine words by Andy Burnham today about empowering communities to deliver good growth in every postcode, his focus was very much on ‘the regions’, which means England. For too long, successive UK governments have failed to give Wales the tools we need to thrive and so the ‘King of the North’ must be clear that Wales is a nation, not a region, and work with the Senedd to enable growth in Welsh postcode areas.
While Burnham seemed open to extending powers to the devolved nations, this must match the ambition that the people of Wales voted for less than two months ago. Plaid Cymru was given a mandate to secure powers over rail, the Crown Estate, justice and policing to unlock investment, strengthen our infrastructure and allow policies to be shaped around the needs of our communities. In the past, Burnham has laid great emphasis on public transport as a symbol of a fair society. Now’s the time for him to talk about how he will come up with the goods.
UK state threats bill could pull British journalists into terror prosecutions – experts
British foreign correspondents could be at risk of prosecution if they use sources within state-backed groups in countries such as Iran under national security legislation being rushed through parliament this week, Pippa Crerar reports.
Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader and a friend of Andy Burnham, told Radio 4’s the World at One today that she did not expected Burnham to get rid of the entire Westminster whipping system for Labour MPs. He has implied this in the past. (See 9.30am.)
But, referring to what Burnham said about whipping today (see 11.56am), she said:
I think what he was talking about was the ability for MPs who represent their own constituents, if they have a different point of view, if they want to raise amendments, or they want to shape things differently … that will not be deemed to be something that is disloyal.
Andy Burnham spoke a lot about his experience as mayor of Greater Manchester in his speech this morning. The Institute for Government has published a paper today exploring whether being a regional mayor is good preparation for being PM. Only to a limited degree, it suggests.
Here is an extract.
No role represents a perfect proving ground for the unique post of prime minister. New prime ministers typically make this step either from another cabinet role or (after an election) from the opposition benches. The former equips would-be premiers with experience of executive leadership and policy delivery, albeit within a departmental silo; leaders of the opposition have no executive control but, in their role ‘shadowing’ the prime minister must be across all policy areas and set out a broad vision for government.
In some ways a mayoralty might be considered to offer better preparation for Downing Street than either route. As head of an executive, mayors lead an organisation and set a broad vision for its political direction. Mayors also exercise responsibility across a range of policy areas, each of which has its own department at the national level. And they are the most visible face of the whole administration in the media and public eye.
Yet in terms of the scale of the role, the style of leadership required, and the nature of the decisions they take, they simply cannot compare.
CBI broadly welcomes Burnham's speech
Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives are suggesting that an Andy Burnham government would just be a more leftwing version of Keir Starmer’s. (See 10.32am.) But they don’t seem to have persuaded the CBI, which has issued a broadly positive response to the Burnham speech.
This is from Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI chief executive.
Business will welcome Andy Burnham’s clear focus on growth and delivery. Taking the positive, dynamic and collaborative approach that has helped public and private sectors drive growth in Manchester and applying it at UK level would give industry a practical agenda it can get behind.
Business will welcome the commitments to sound public finances, upholding fiscal rules and maintaining investor confidence. Backing innovation and scale-ups, boosting international trade and tackling youth unemployment by strengthening apprenticeships are practical steps that can help unlock growth.
Business leaders will be encouraged by efforts to use the levers of devolution to spread prosperity across the country. While London must remain vital to UK growth and investment, helping other regions attract greater investment and make decisions that reflect local priorities is essential to taking the economy forward.
While firms support many of the ambitions, they will need a clear delivery plan – particularly on business rates. Proposals for greater intervention in markets such as transport and utilities must avoid deterring investment. Public-private partnerships remain the most effective and affordable route to upgrading critical infrastructure, crowd-in vital private capital and deliver long-term growth.
As Graeme Wearden reports on his business live blog, the City seemed comfortable with the speech too. The pound was up very slightly after Burnham finished, and government borrowing costs down a fraction.
Shelter says Burnham's council housebuilding pledge could 'utterly transform' Britain
Shelter, the housing charity, says Andy Burnham’s call for the biggest council housebuilding programme in the postwar period (see 12.48pm) could “utterly transform” Britain. Sarah Elliott, its chief executive, said:
Andy Burnham is right on the money here. Any government that is serious about fixing life’s foundations must start by delivering a new generation of social rent homes and strengthening the arm of councils to get building.
Council-built social homes once provided a stable basis for millions of people across the country to get on in life and succeed. Politicians have ignored this fact for far too long, while people’s hope dwindled away and our supply of genuinely affordable social rent homes fell through the floor.
Delivering the biggest council housebuilding programme since postwar period has the potential to utterly transform our country and restore the building blocks of people’s lives. To make this vision a reality, the government must set councils up to build by removing unsustainable debt and delivering a big boost to investment.
What thinktanks are saying about Burnham's speech
Here are four thinktanks responding to Andy Burnham’s speech.
The Fabian Society, the Labour party thinktank, agrees with Burnham about the importance of devolution. This is from Luke Raikes, its deputy general secretary.
The UK’s local economic investment rate is half that of France, Germany and the OECD average. That’s because in the UK, the Treasury hoards 95% of our taxes and then fails to invest in the infrastructure people need …
Ultimately, centralisation is the root cause of the growth failures in the north and the housing failures in the south. The answer to both problems is devolution.
And the left-leaning IPPR takes a similar view. This is from its executive director, Harry Quilter-Pinner.
Andy Burnham is right to put rebalancing Britain at the heart of his agenda. The UK’s concentration of power and opportunity in Westminster has held back growth, productivity and living standards for too long. This is a problem for London – blighted by overcrowding and house price inflation – as much as it is for the north and Midlands.
Labour is also right to reassure the markets by sticking to the fiscal rules. But fiscal discipline should not be confused with a lack of ambition. The government can still pursue a radical agenda by increasing investment, reforming the state and devolving real power over areas like skills, transport and local finances.
The LGIU (Local Government Information Unit) also wants to see more devolution to local government but (like Zack Polanski – see 1.32pm) is not sure councils have the resources to take advantage of new powers. This is from its chief executive, Jonathan Carr-West.
Andy Burnham’s speech today was the most ambitious statement on devolution we have seen from a senior politician in a generation.
At LGIU, we have always argued that national success has local foundations, and that democratic control, economic growth and excellence in public services cannot be achieved by working from the top down, only nurtured from the bottom up. Burnham appears to understand this based on his remarks this morning …
But vision requires a vehicle. We have seen ambitious visions before, and we have seen many governments come unstuck because of their failure to empower councils sufficiently.
Local government is the operational frontline of the state, and right now it is hollowed out and close to collapse. Number 10 North, reindustrialisation, housebuilding: none of this works without councils that have the capacity to deliver it.
And the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says people need more help with the cost of living. This is from Chris Belfield, its chief economist.
Strong communities help us to feel connected, confident and in control and Andy Burnham is right to focus on devolving more power to where people live. But strong communities can only flourish when they’re resilient to shocks. And there can only be hope in every heart when people expect their living standards to improve.
Household incomes are expected to fall between now and the end of the parliament. People can’t wait 10 years to see an improvement. This is why we need a plan for living standards that includes bold action on rent costs, energy prices, social security and employment protections
Today, JRF sets out a policy package which would return incomes to growth for the majority of households while lowering inflation. Devolution is vital, but it cannot thrive without wholesale economic reform that fundamentally rethinks how we build household economic security.
UDPATE: And this is from Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, a leftwing economic thinktank.
This morning’s speech sets out a hopeful vision for people-powered success. Three things stood out as particularly welcome: calling time on trickle-down economics, upping the need for public intervention when markets fail and shifting power to people and communities.
At a time of rising inequality it is good to hear Andy Burnham go beyond aggregate growth being a defining mission and instead focus on good quality, equitable growth. His ambition to set out a 10-year plan for bringing essential services like water, housing, energy and transport back under public control is much needed. And the promise to modernise an insufficiently accountable state and nurture a more collaborative politics will be welcome at a time of falling trust and growing division. None of this will be easy and the proof will be in the policy, but it has the makings of the economic and political reset the UK needs.
Updated
Here is video from Andy Burnham’s speech.
Updated
How other political parties reacted to Burnham's speech
The Conservative and Reform UK issued responses to Andy Burnham’s speech before he had even spoken this morning. Kemi Badenoch said that Burnham was just offering conventional Labour solutions (see 10.32am), and that devolution was just a means for Westminster politicians to avoid difficult decisons (see 10.56am). And, in an interview this morning, Robert Jenrick from Reform UK said that Burnham’s plans would take too long to implement, and that he was not proposing anything to cut welfare spending or immigration.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, was more sympathetic. In a statement issued after the speech was delivered, he expressed support for what Burnham wants to achieve – but was sceptical about whether he succeed. He said:
Struggling families and cash-strapped councils desperately need real change.
We urgently need to shift power out of Whitehall and into the hands of local communities. But that has to mean actually listening to people and councils and giving them a real say over their areas – not imposing a one-size-fits-all answer from the top.
The proof will be in the pudding. Andy Burnham has a very short window to turn this government around, end the chaos and deliver the change he has promised.
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, was also positive about Burnham’s aims, but doubtful about whether he would give councils the money they need. Polanski said:
Rebalancing power is vital – but what good are powers if you can’t afford to use them?
Billionaire wealth has hit record highs in this country – while local authorities are shutting down libraries and youth centres because their funding has been cut to the bone.
Burnham must meet 3 key tests:
Will redistribution of power mean ditching the broken electoral system?
Will redistributed resources mean a real wealth tax and protecting the poorest?
Will a focus on local areas come with an end to the gutting of local authorities’ budgets?
But the SNP said Burnham was just making empty promises. Dave Doogan, the SNP leader at Westminster, said:
Andy Burnham is making the same empty promises, while keeping all of Westminster’s most damaging policies – Brexit, austerity cuts and Tory spending rules.
The SNP has been calling for meaningful devolution for years but there is nothing of substance for Scotland in these proposals – and nothing that will fundamentally improve people’s lives.
And here is Burnham’s peroration.
If people in 1844 could form the co-operative movement in Rochdale to lower the price of food, then why can’t we act now with similar courage to make life better? Imagine what things could be like if we succeed.
Imagine what it would feel like to live in a country wired to work for ordinary people, rather than against them.
Imagine if all local areas could build homes people can afford to the point where they could guarantee one for everyone.
Imagine if we could bring down the cost of energy for people and businesses, and the good things that would come from that.
Imagine good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart.
Well, imagine no more. Let’s make it happen.
Burnham suggests he would give people a 'bit extra now' to help with cost of living
Burnham said that he wanted to give people some “breathing space” on the cost of living immediately.
I know people can’t wait forever for change. I heard on doorsteps in Makerfield how people need a bit extra now to help with rising costs.
I will do my very best to deliver it and, whilst not taking risks with the public finances, will seek to give Britain some breathing space as soon as I can.
People need to be able to look forward to a night out or a holiday with the kids. People need hope.
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Burnham says he wants to reform business rates to help pubs and high streets
Burnham said he wanted to reform business rates to help pubs and high street businesses.
To reinforce that, we will reform business rates to support pubs and high street businesses – businesses that bring social benefits to communities.
Burnham says he wants more higher density residential development in towns
Burnham said he wanted to see more higher density residential development in towns.
No 10 North will be able to support all places to turn around those towns, their high streets and the local centres, increasing footfall on the high street and protecting more green spaces from development.
Burnham promises biggest council housebuilding programme in postwar period
Burnham said No 10 North would also prioritise building more council homes.
Britain has lost almost 1.5m council homes since the 1980s, and around the same number of people are now on housing waiting lists and have been there for a very long time.
As a result, the country is in a housing trap.
We are forced to chase rents in the private rented sector through the benefits system. When governments try to control these costs by freezing local housing allowance, it makes families homeless and places unfunded pressures on councils when they have to pay for temporary accommodation.
Britain’s housing crisis is having a ruinous impact on its public finances.
So working with local areas, No 10 North will oversee the biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period.
We will use public land, vacant public land, to reduce costs.
Updated
Burnham said, where young people needed mental health support, that should be “provided as part of in-work support”.
He also said he wanted to devolve power over employment support to mayors.
Burnham calls for 'complete rethink' in schools, with technical education getting 'parity' with university
Burnham said he wanted to change the way schools operate so they are not entirely focused on getting pupils into university.
I take very seriously the findings of the recent report by Alan Milburn [on youth unemployment].
We need a complete rethink of how we support the next generation to succeed, and it has to start with the education system.
The days of a school system configured entirely around the university route will be brought to an end.
University is great for those who want it, but when are we going to focus on the life chances of those kids who want something different when the country hasn’t done that for a long, long time? People have argued over many years for an education system based on parity between academic and technical, and that is what we will build.
Burnham says more emphasis to be given to 'social value' when public contracts issued
Burnham said he wanted to change the way public procurement policy operated.
For too long, UK public procurement policy has been based on chasing cut price deals around the world, rather than helping our own British-based suppliers become more stable and competitive.
No more. From here on, every pound raised from taxpayers will work harder for them, and that approach will apply fully to the defence investment plan.
We will make sure that all eligible public contracts are subject to proper social value weighting.
And we will do that to make sure British-based companies are in a better position to win those contracts.
This change is essential given the need to build our own resilience in places across the country.
In an increasingly uncertain world, we need to safeguard sovereign manufacturing and production capability across the country in critical sectors like steel, defence, energy, food and farming, rather than just being prepared to let it go, as we have sadly done in the past.
In return, we will recycle maximum benefits for our communities and our residents, for instance by requiring a much greater supply of 45-day work placements and apprenticeships for young people.
On reindustrialisation, Burnham said:
We will support every region to set clear and credible industrial ambitions and provide the support to achieve them, encouraging more across UK partnership between places with complementary industrial clusters.
As Cambridge and Manchester have done on life sciences, we will consolidate public and private investment at a place-based level and help all areas establish good growth funds, as we have done here in Greater Manchester.
Burnham says he will use 10-year plans to bring down costs of utilities through 'greater public control'
Burnham said No 10 North would help the regions with three tasks: reform of utilities; reindustrialisation and regeneration of places.
On utilities, he said:
We will ensure all parts of the UK are able to take greater public control of essential services like water, housing, energy and transport.
Learning from the model that has transformed our bus networks here in Greater Manchester, we will set out 10-year plans to bring down the cost of these essentials to individuals, families and businesses.
Burnham says his government will aim for 'equivalent living conditions in all parts of Britain'
Burnham set out more details of what No 10 North would do.
It will coordinate all parts of government at national and local level, to agree a long term economic strategy and help all places set new growth ambitions.
It will be given a mission to strive for equivalent living conditions in all parts of Britain, borrowing from the German Basic Law. [See 9.30am.]
It will [make] place-based collaboration the new operating principle for UK plc, requiring all government departments and agencies to support strategic and local authorities with staffing and resources.
And let me say this very directly; the days of Whitehall fighting the devolution power into the regions and nations are over for good.
Burnham confirms he will set up No 10 North in Manchester, to make 'power flow' around country
Burnham confirms that he will set up a No 10 North in Manchester.
The change will be the biggest change in our lifetimes to the way the country is run, and it is consistent with the 2024 manifesto.
We will create a more streamlined state with a clearer purpose to power up all parts of the country and put a laser-like focus on growth and regeneration, good growth.
The change will be driven through the prime minister’s office in an extended operation based here in Manchester.
But here’s the important thing; it will only be based here. The job of No 10 North will be to make power flow into the Midlands, into the South West, into the East of England and yes, into London.
Burnham says he will stick with 'discipline of current fiscal rules'
Burnham says he wants devolution “backed by the stability that comes from sound public finances … and the discipline of our current fiscal rules”.
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Burnham explains his view of 'Manchesterism', and why it is key to encouraging growth
Burnham says what he calls Manchesterism show how growth can be nurtured.
It comes from running sound finances, as we have done here in Greater Manchester, which in turn gives businesses the stability and the confidence to invest, increasing their productivity and adoption of new technology.
It comes from placing our universities at the heart of local economies, as all the mayors do, and bringing the innovation-led approach through start-ups and scale-ups.
It comes from committing to decent infrastructure in all parts of the UK and getting national investors to back the aspirations set by regions.
It comes from giving people the security of a good home and good employment, so that they can be as productive as possible, from good mobility and an ability to afford the basics.
And it comes from not leaving everything to the market, but public intervention where necessary, to set higher ambitions for towns, as we did in Stockport, and kickstart the process of change.
This is Manchesterism.
Burnham promises 'biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen'
Burnham says the current system is not just not working for people in the north; it is not working for people in the south either.
It is bad for London in the south east.
The whole country suffers when the regions and nations are not meeting their potential, and Londoners are left with an overheated economy and an overcrowded housing market.
It is actually bad for national government too, because we will never get the growth up to the level Britain needs, unless every single postcode in the land is set up to contribute to it.
This country hasn’t thought in that way before, but with the Makerfield test at the heart of decision making, it will do from now on.
To make it happen, we will bring about the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen.
It is time for Whitehall to accept that growth cannot be ordered from the top down. Instead, it can only be nurtured from the bottom up.
Burnham says 'stark imbalance' in resources between councils and national government not justified
Burnham says the “stark imbalance in resources” between councils and national government is not justified.
If councils can’t fix potholes, what chance do they have of bringing forward major regeneration schemes to get growth going?
While national government has got bigger, particularly since the pandemic, local government is threadbare and without the resources to fulfil even statutory responsibilities. This is not just bad for councils in the areas they serve, it is bad for everywhere.
Burnham urges people to ignore 'wild speculation' about who he might appoint to his government
Burnham urges people to ignore “speculation” about who he might appoint to his government.
And may I say, I will not announce those decisions on appointments, certainly not today, and indeed not until the end of this process.
So until then, feel free to discount the wild speculation in circulation.
Referring to the media in the audience, he says that is a “message for the back of the room there”.
Burnham says he will let MPs be 'authentic representatives', not using whipping system to create fear
Burnham says he left Westminster more than a decade ago because he thought Westminster politics was not working for this region.
And he says when he returned last week, the same problems were there.
Power is not in the hands of those places that [MPs] represent, but held by an insufficiently accountable, outsourced state.
We are one of the most over centralised countries in the world, and worse, that over centralised heart of the country is not pulling in the same way but in different directions.
That is the reality of Westminster now, both within our parties and between them, and between the departments of Whitehall.
I’ll be honest, I was worried about what I found on my return last week. It is a more fragmented, disjointed place than the one I left and frankly, unhappier.
Burnham says he will change that.
I will work hard to change that culture, leading from the front and showing how things can be different.
Letting MPs be authentic representatives and not using the whip system to create fear or close down debate
Involving more people in the work of the government, and drawing on the breadth and depth of talent and expertise our party has to offer.
While the political direction I set is not up for negotiation, I will build an inclusive team at the very highest level so that all parts of the party and the country can see themselves reflected and represented in it.
Burnham says he wants politics of 'strong partnership between all sectors'
Burnham says he knows he can deliver change because he has done that in Manchester.
We will make politics work for you and the place where you live. I know it can be done because we have done it here.
When I started as mayor in 2017, we set about building a new approach, a new politics based on the exact opposite of the Westminster approach.
Place first, not party first problem solving, not point scoring, long term, not short term.
A decade on, it’s incredible how much we’ve been able to achieve by working together instead of fighting against one another.
The Greater Manchester Way is based on strong partnership between all sectors, public, private, community, voluntary, academic, faith and our trade unions.
We ask everyone to face the same way and then pulling that same direction together.
As an example, Burnham cites the way his mayoralty worked with the last Conservative government on securing work placements for people doing T-levels.
Burnham says he will give UK 'circuit breaker it needs' to build more collaborative politics
Burnham says the venue, the People’s History museum in Manchester, is one of his favourite places.
One of his old coats is on display upstairs, he says.
The gallery tells the story of the country, and it is a story about how the country has not been run properly, he says.
The time has come to build the broadest possible coalition of people to lift Britain back up to where we all want it to be …
After ten years of political turbulence since Brexit and 20 years of falling living standards since the 2008 financial crash, Westminster hasn’t been working for people and it hasn’t been working for a very long time.
In fact, it is broken. And as a result, the country isn’t where it should be. It is stuck in a rut. And clearly we can’t go on like this.
My generation of politicians, including me, must take responsibility. We haven’t been good enough.
But instead of being honest about that, the parties have continued with politics as usual, finger pointing, point scoring.
Now that might matter less in a world where people’s lives are getting better, but when they are not,
It is dangerous and destructive of what remains of public trust in politics. We cannot go through another decade like the one we have just had.
Burnham says he is proposing a new approach.
Let me state my clear intention as I put myself forward, true to the motto of this city, I am going to do things differently.
I am going to break with the more of the same approach that has got us here.
I am going to give Britain the circuit breaker it needs by building a more collaborative politics in Westminster, by taking power out of the centre and putting it in the hands of the people and places who can use it best.
And in so doing, creating a new sense of agency, possibility and hope flowing around the country.
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Burnham starts:
Are you ready for this?
He says he sounds like he used to sound when he was DJing in Manchester.
He says he is missing Manchester already.
And he jokes about how he needed special permission to wear his Manchester outfit today (a jacket and a T-shirt – no shirt or tie). “Sorry Kemi,” he says, joking about the Tory leader’s disapproval.
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Burnham starts devolution speech in Manchester
Andy Burnham is starting his speech now. Or trying to. The applause just goes on and on.
Badenoch says Miliband 'acting like Nigerian military dictators who ruined a lot of that country's economic potential'
Q: You have called Ed Miliband a villain, and compared him to the Nigerian dictatorship. Why do you hate him that much? And is that language appropriate?
Badenoch said she did not approve of language policing. “Let’s stop worrying about hurty words and look at the people who are hurting in the country,” she said.
She went on:
I do feel very strongly about this issue. Many people know that my childhood was spent in Nigeria. Nigeria is an oil producing country that never had any electricity. Why? Because it had bad policies from military dictatorships, people who did not care what the country wanted.
They imposed socialism on the country. They took over all of the oil production. They had a national state oil producer and it failed.
Ed Miliband is actually doing the same thing. He wants more state control. He has terrible policies that are reducing our capacity, reducing our energy security.
So having lived under both, I think I’m uniquely placed to make that comparison. Yes, Ed Miliband is acting like the Nigerian military dictators who ruined a lot of that country’s economic potential and made it so much poorer and in some cases bankrupted the country.
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Asked if it was a mistake for the last Conservative government to impose a de facto ban on new onshore windfarms, Badenoch said that was a question Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretetary, could answer.
Q: What do you make of the revelation in the Spectator that some Labour people are arguing that Andy Burnham would be the party’s first female leader?
Badenoch replied:
I don’t know what to say. The idea that Andy Burnham is Labour’s first female prime minister shows that that party still doesn’t know what a woman is.
Badenoch claims Burnham backs devolution because he does not have answers and 'wants to pass problem somewhere else'
Q: Are you opposed to devolution in principle?
Badenoch replied:
Devolution is not a silver bullet. It is not an answer. It is a process. If you devolve to people who can’t do the job, you just recreate the problem elsewhere and make it harder for central government to fix it.
How do we go about picking our mayors? If you are picking people who think is just a popularity contest or I’m a Celebrity, they’re not actually going to be able to do that job.
I think a lot of politicians hide behind devolution because they don’t have any answers. So they say, ‘Well, why don’t we let local people sort it out?’ But they don’t give them the real tools, the power.
What’s wrong with our country? We have extremely high energy costs. What’s a local mayor going to do about that?
We have seen so much go wrong because politicians have been outsourcing decisions, outsourcing responsibility to councils, to quangos, [to the] OBR. No one is making decisions.
And what I hear when Andy Burnham talks about more devolution is that he doesn’t actually know what he wants to do, and so he wants to pass the problem somewhere else. We know what we want to do ….
I think Andy Burnham is afraid of taking difficult decisions. He wants to be liked. He wants to be popular. But politicians who want popularity always end up running away from tough decisions. I’m not scared of taking tough decisions.
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Badenoch says Tory mayors and councils won't be using new powers to impose overnight visitor levy on tourists
Q: Can you guarantee that Tory mayors and Tory councils won’t be using the new powers they have to impose an overnight visitor levy on tourists?
Badenoch replied:
This is not a policy that we support. If you can find a Conservative leader of a council who’s doing that, send them my way and I will have a word.
Asked what she thought of Andy Burnham not taking questions this morning, Badenoch said:
Andy Burnham doesn’t like questions. Nigel Farage doesn’t like questions. Even Keir Starmer in parliament, he doesn’t like questions here.
If you want somebody who can answer questions, please come to me. I will answer all of your questions.
Asked who Andy Burnham should pick as his chancellor, Badenoch replied:
I know that it should not be Ed Miliband. He is the single person who has done the most to deindustrialise our country and make us poorer. He should not be rewarded with an even more powerful job where he can completely bankrupt the country.
Asked about Burnham’s plan to put part of the No 10 operation in Manchester, Badenoch said she did not think that was a good idea. She explained:
As a secretary of state, there were many times that I had to go to No 10 and then go into parliament. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had to go up and down to Manchester at the same time.
We did have a second Treasury campus in the north. That was for civil servants. It was for other ministers. It was not for the prime minister.
Badenoch calls for Commons recess to be delayed so Burnham can address MPs as PM before September
Currently the Commons is due to rise for the summer recess on Thursday 16 July. Andy Burnham is due to be named as Labour leader the following day, and he is due to become PM on the following Monday.
Badenoch said the recess should be delayed to allow Burnham to tell the Commons what he plans to do. She said:
Andy Burnham should delay the summer’s parliamentary recess by just a day or two – just a day or two – come to the house and tell us his plan for this country.
This is not a game. It should not be a soap opera. If he wants to be the leader of our country, it is time to start acting like it.
MPs are due to return to the Commons after the summer recess on 1 September.
Badenoch dismisses Burnham's devolution agenda, saying it's just 'more public control, more regulation, more taxes'
Badenoch also claimed that Andy Burnham’s devolution plans were not “some radical new agenda”, but just “old hat”.
She said Boris Johnson was also a former mayor who had a devolution agenda. Just as Andy Burnham wants to set up a No 10 in Manchester, under Johnson the Treasury opened a campus at Darlington, she said. She went on:
But Burnham’s devolution agenda, unlike ours, is stripped of private enterprise and ownership. It is loaded with Labour’s instincts – more public control, more regulation, more taxes, all of the very things which have caused the problems we have today.
They will mean more power taken away from parliament, but more and more government created all over the country, more politicians, more outsourcing of decisions to bodies with even less scrutiny and accountability.
If you look under the hood of Andy Burnham’s proposals, you will find at their core, a mistaken belief, the belief that it is government that creates growth. It is not. It is business that creates growth.
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Badenoch claims Britain heading for 'summer of chaos' because of power vacuum in Downing Street
Kemi Badenoch has claimed that Britain is heading for a “summer of chaos” because there is a power vacuum in No 10.
In a speech this morning about Andy Burnham, the Conservative leader said:
Britain is heading for a summer of chaos. We have a caretaker prime minister, barely in office, definitely not in power. All major policy and spending decisions have been put on hold. The last defence secretary resigned because the money needed to keep Britain safe has not been found ….
Ministers of the Home Office are fighting each other. In fact, the immigration minister has been banned from seeing government documents. Rachel Reeves is ringing round businesses trying to get them to say that sacking her would risk destabilising the economy, as if that hasn’t happened already. She should have had was the good grace to resign alongside Keir Starmer.
Meanwhile, trade unions are arguing about their favoured candidates to be the next chancellor.
The government is descending into chaos and no one is dealing with the serious and urgent threats that this country faces.
Badenoch claimed that Burnham would become PM last this month, but would then need the summer holiday to work out what he thinks. She went on:
Andy Burnham is already the prime minister in everything but name. He needs to act like a leader, put an end to speculation, walk into No 10, name his cabinet and come to parliament to tell the country what he plans to do.
Starmer
For an alternative view on whether Andy Burnham should take questions from the media after his speech this morning, this is from Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications chief who now co-hosts the Rest is Politics podcast.
If true that @andyburnham not taking media questions after speech today then good move. Speeches matter and when important should speak for themselves. A problem with Keir S communications was that he would make a speech, then take Qs and the broadcast journalists in particular would make it more about them and their “take” than him. If and when he becomes PM Burnham will be answerable to Parliament, not the showbiz style media coverage of politics. The blah factory will go into overdrive today with journalists interviewing each other about how they ought to be allowed to ask Qs. The speech itself is more important than anything they say before during or after. Setting the agenda vital from the off.
Burnham accused of 'power without accountability' over proposals not to take reporters' questions after today's speech
Journalists have been told that Andy Burnham will not be taking questions after his speech today. Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, has described that in a post on social media as “power without accountability”. He says:
Burnham’s coup is well underway.
Big speech today with no questions from journalists. No debate in Parliament. No scrutiny from MPs until September.
Power without accountability. Funny how Burnham demanded a General Election in 2022, but not now.
We need a General Election.
Reform UK tend to be pretty good at taking a large number of questions from journalists when they hold press conferences – although Nigel Farage’s enthusiasm for events of this kind seems to have mysteriously disappeared following the revelation about his undisclosed £5m donation. That is one topic on which questions are not welcome.
Andy Burnham to propose devolution plan in first major policy speech since launching bid for No 10
Good morning. When Keir Starmer became PM, he had published his missions and his first steps, Labour was awash with policy, but some people still felt it was hard to know what his driving motivation was, what was the single big goal he wanted to achieve in politics. Andy Burnham is set to become PM three weeks today and in his case it is easy to answer this question because he published a book about it in early 2024 with Steve Rotheram, the Liverpool city region mayor, called Head North. They argue that the north of England has lost out because power in the UK is hoarded in the south and they propose a huge rebalancing, achieved by the devolution of decision making and spending away from London, building on some of the work they had been able to achieve as metro mayors.
Anyone curious as to what Burnham will do in Downing Street has to start here. The book even includes a 10 point plan, some elements of which will almost certainly be dropped but some of which will be at the core of the Burnham project.
A “Basic Law” refers to a version of a law passed by Germany after West Germany and East Germany were reunified, saying all states in the country should have “equivalent living standards”.
Burnham and Rotheram ended their book with an “Epilogue to our Grandchildren”. In it they said they hoped their ideas would “help build a movement of people over the next 25 years which will eventually change Westminster from the outside”. They said they would like to think that by the middle of this century, “the end of our lives and the start of yours”, that movement would be “so big that real change would then be imminent”.
At the time they were writing Labour was expected to win the 2024 general election, but most observers expected Keir Starmer to be reasonably secure for another 10 years. Burnham clearly did not think he would be the person implementing this agenda. Now, just over two years later, he does not have to leave it up to his grandchildren; he will be able to do it himself.
That is the background to today’s speech by Burnham in Manchester. As Pippa Crerar reports, he will pledge to deliver “good growth in every postcode” by overseeing a significant transfer of power out of Whitehall to local communities.
It is Burnham’s first big speech as the presumptive next PM. Apparently he won’t be taking questions from reporters because he wants the coverage to focus on the speech. It may turn out to be the most important political event of the week, and of course I will be covering it in detail.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer host a roundtable at Downing Street with the hospitality industry.
10am: Kemi Badenoch gives a speech in London,
11.30am: Andy Burnham gives his devolution speech in Manchester.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Afternoon: Starmer is meeting Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, in Downing Street.
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