Andy Burnham unveiled plans for reindustrialisation, taking stronger public control of essentials, and also called for a council house building programme on a scale not seen since after World War II
Andy Burnham has set out his vision of a “new path for Britain” to Mirror readers in his first full interview after his dramatic return to national politics.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester, who harbours hopes of becoming the next PM, unveiled plans for reindustrialisation, taking stronger public control of essentials such as energy and water, and also called for a post-war level of council house building.
In his first in-depth interview since announcing plans to run in Makerfield, the long-rumoured leadership contender vowed to take his fight to “the highest level”, in a battle he also claimed was a “campaign to change Labour”.
Mr Burnham also tore into Nigel Farage and Reform, comparing their policies to the cruel devastation overseen by Margaret Thatcher. The 56-year-old described the contest as a battle for the “soul of the Labour party and country”, and refused to blame voters who deserted the party at the local elections.
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Speaking at St Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic High School in the constituency, said: “I don’t want, Reform this, Greens that. We want to listen to what people are saying. It’s then that big question. Do you want to just carry on as we are, or do you want a new path for Britain? And that path I’ve laid out is a very clear and a different one. I think it needs to be something of a circuit breaker for politics in this country.
“We’ve got to elevate politics out of that, and we’ve got to show the public we’re prepared to take a very different approach. In Greater Manchester, I’ve built a new politics to build a new economy and I think Britain needs to build a new politics, more collaborative, more place first, less party first, to build a new economy in all parts of the country and crucially bring more stability to the country.”
Sitting Labour MP Josh Simons resigned this week to give Mr Burnham a run at the seat and seemingly a chance to oust Keir Starmer, as civil war erupts in the Labour party. Asked whether this by-election was about running for PM, Mr Burnham insisted he was “not presumptuous”.
He said: “The most important people in relation to that question are the people here. I know them, but it’s what they think that matters. The first focus is on this by-election, but if I can give you a more direct answer – My career has been all about fighting for people in these parts.
“I did it when I was the MP for Leigh fighting for compensation for miners that was delivered by the last Labour government, fighting for investment in the Wigan borough, fighting for justice for the Hillsborough families for those affected by infected blood. I’ve played a significant role in fighting against Boris Johnson during Covid when he tried to treat the people of Makerfield and Greater Manchester as second-class citizens, fighting against that mentality actually of people in Whitehall and Westminster that thinks they can treat the Midlands and the North of England, somehow as second-class citizens.
“I’ve had a career of leading that fight and I will keep trying to take that fight to the highest level I can. I’m not saying it’s just about the North, outside of London and the South East, there are loads of parts of the UK that do not get fair treatment.”
Mr Burnham claimed all parties had let the public down, including Labour. He said: “This country has been on a path since the mid-1980s that has taken us to this place. This was a mining area in those days. I was at school with people whose dads were out on strike and whose mums were out on strike in that period and that de-industrialisation first was then followed by deregulation, privatisation, austerity later down the line. What it’s done is drained the economic and social power out of places like this.
“We have left people without any breathing space, they can’t do anything anymore. Go on holiday, or go for a few pints, whatever it might be. This country has an economy that isn’t working for ordinary people, and we’re going to have to change it.”
The former Health Secretary promised a different approach, starting with his campaign slogan, “For Us”. He explained: “My campaign slogan is ‘For Us’, because I’ve always been for the people here, my track record shows that. I’ve always been rooted, there’s a reason why we are sitting in my kids’ former secondary school this morning.
“People have made lots of speculation about this seat and that seat, and what was I doing? It was never really a question in my mind, that I wouldn’t be rooted and local.
“I’m for us, which means I’m not for a political and economic system that is for the wealthiest and for whom life is already very good. I’m for people who need change.”
Turning his fire toward Mr Farage, whose party hopes to take the seat, Mr Burnham compared them to Ms Thatcher.
He said: “When Britain went on that wrong path in the 1980s, that devastation that communities like these felt, the leadership of Reform were the arch Thatcherites and I think people need to understand what they are. I hope the true character of Reform is tested in this, what do they actually believe?
“That question comes if I have set out what I believe Labour should embody. Part of this campaign is a campaign to change Labour. To make it a party that people here might say ‘the party that we once knew’. A party that is solidly on the side of working-class people.”
Mr Burnham was first elected as MP for Leigh in 2001, and went on to become Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Culture Secretary, and Health Secretary.
In 2010, he made his first bid for Labour leadership, but ultimately lost out to Ed Miliband, and in 2015, ran for the Labour leadership again, but came in second place behind Jeremy Corbyn.
Outlining his policies, Mr Burnham called for education reform to make technical education the equal of the academic university route, to put essentials “more strongly” under public control, and warned there would be no stability in Britain until “we end the housing crisis”.
Mr Burnham also repeated his backing for proportional representation in Westminster elections, claiming it helps build a “new politics and a different way of thinking”. In a final pledge, Mr Burnham vowed to donate a portion of his MP salary if elected, having donated 15% since becoming Mayor. He added: “I’ve done that for nine years. I would carry that commitment into this if the public is good enough to give me the chance.”
