{"id":72767,"date":"2026-06-29T16:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/72767\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:21:13","slug":"burnham-unveils-new-direction-for-britain-as-he-promises-hope-in-pitch-for-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/72767\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham unveils \u2018new direction\u2019 for Britain as he promises \u2018hope\u2019 in pitch for power"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Europe:<\/p>\n

The Way Back. Join our community exploring how Britain can rebuild its future in EuropeJoin the debate with our pro-Europe newsletterJoin the debate with our pro-Europe newsletter<\/p>\n

\"Europe:<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham<\/a> promised a \u201cnew direction\u201d for Britain and vowed to overhaul the country\u2019s \u201cbroken\u201d political system as he sought to lift the spirits of Labour MPs <\/a>in his first major speech as \u201cprime minister in waiting\u201d. <\/p>\n

Speaking at the People\u2019s Museum in Manchester on Monday, the newly-elected MP for Makerfield, who now appears to be the only candidate to replace Sir Keir Starmer<\/a>, laid out a decade-long plan topped with the promise of a \u201cNumber 10 of the North\u201d \u2013 an outpost of 10 Downing Street which he claimed would be \u201cthe nerve centre of a rewired Britain\u201d. <\/p>\n

Dressed in his trademark dark T-shirt<\/a>, Mr Burnham pledged to rewrite four decades of \u201ctrickle down\u201d economics, promising to bring UK politics \u201cout of a rut\u201d and drive a devolution agenda which would allow regions and communities to \u201cdrive growth in every postcode\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cClearly we can not go on like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offering a 10-year mission to transform Britain, he added: \u201cImagine good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart. And I say it again. Imagine good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart. Well, imagine no more. Let’s make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described Westminster as a much more \u201cmiserable place\u201d since he left to become Greater Manchester mayor almost a decade ago \u2013 blaming Brexit and Covid for its decline and sharing the \u201cfrustrations\u201d of \u201cmany good MPs\u201d who are \u201cpowerless to bring the change their communities need\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"AndyAndy Burnham makes his first speech as prime minister in waiting (Getty)<\/p>\n

He also promised the \u201cbiggest council house building programme since the post war period\u201d and signalled a drive for nationalisation of water and house building in the UK \u2013 highlighting the success he had of bringing Manchester buses back into public ownership.<\/p>\n

But it was his pledge to reach out to all factions of the Labour Party, create a top team with a wide range of views and his bid to try to work with other political parties which won plaudits from his parliamentary colleagues.<\/p>\n

After the speech was met with cheers and thunderous applause, a number of senior Labour MPs spoke with relief about the positivity of the messaging which promised \u201chope\u201d, \u201ca new direction\u201d as well as a \u201cgreater sense of unity\u201d in the face of division that both Reform and the Greens have helped amplify.<\/p>\n

Former health secretary Wes Streeting tweeted afterwards: \u201cFinally some hope again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PrimePrime minister Sir Keir Starmer ( Alberto Pezzali\/PA Wire\/PA Images) (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

International development committee chair Sarah Champion, one of the leaders of welfare, told The Independent: “It was exactly what I needed to hear as it will benefit towns like Rotherham enormously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tone was right. We need to get away from traditional party politics and instead focus all our efforts on delivering what people need to thrive; wherever they come from.”<\/p>\n

She added: “After that speech, I’m full Team Andy.”<\/p>\n

Former Labour chancellor John McDonnell told The Independent: “As a first step , it was a breath of fresh air. Now it\u2019s about getting down to the details of implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Independent MP Karl Turner, who has been suspended from Labour over his opposition to jury trial reform but is set to be welcomed back by Mr Burnham, added: \u201cA broad church is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KemiKemi Badenoch attacked Burnham (Getty)<\/p>\n

From the right of the party, Chris Curtis, the chair of the now defunct Labour Growth Group, said: \u201cI thought the content was very, very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the left of the party, Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome, said: \u201cAndy Burnham\u2019s first policy speech is a significant improvement from the government’s current offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, she added: \u201cThere are big questions still left to answer in other areas like migrants’ rights, equalities, and foreign policy. I hope that he will also set out his vision in these areas and allow them to be scrutinised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leigh and Atherton MP Jo Platt, Mr Burnham\u2019s neighbour in Makerfield, said: \u201cThat\u2019s a vision I can get behind. Hope backed by a plan. A roadmap for doing things differently, giving power back to places that have long been forgotten, and unlocking bottom-up growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former mayor refused to take questions from journalists who had attended the speech or give any interviews, raising concerns that he is trying to avoid scrutiny. <\/p>\n

He also refused to address issues like who his chancellor will be, whether there will be an early election or whether – after he committed to Rachel Reeves\u2019 spending rules – he would go after a series of tax rises.<\/p>\n

Unless he faces a rival for the Labour leadership, he will become prime minister on July 20, when Parliament will be on its summer break.<\/p>\n

But, with Mr Burnham under pressure to seek his own mandate at a general election, he insisted his plans were consistent with the manifesto Labour campaigned on in 2024 despite being \u201cthe biggest change in our lifetimes to the way the country is run\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Simon Kaye, director of policy and research at Re:State, said: \u201cBurnham\u2019s vision of a devolved England, with powerful regions driving growth and public service reform, is the right one. But achieving that depends on those regions being able to raise their own revenues. Today\u2019s speech was notable by the absence of any serious commitment to fiscal devolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilarly, while \u2018No 10 North\u2019 is good political theatre, the Whitehall machine won\u2019t be fixed by giving it a northern postcode. Real devolution means central government getting out of the way of local government, not shifting chunks of it out of London.”<\/p>\n

\u201cTo realise his vision, a Burnham premiership will have to dramatically shrink the centre and let go of power \u2013 including giving mayors the power for tax raising – but today we had the rhetoric, rather than any sense of the roadmap, for that change.\u201d<\/p>\n

His speech came after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch repeated the invitation she had offered to Sir Keir to get reforms needed through on welfare and defence spending.<\/p>\n

She warned that there is a danger of the UK being \u201cleft in limbo\u201d for three months unless Mr Burnham starts being direct about his plans quickly.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cAndy Burnham should delay the summer recess, come to Parliament, and tell us his plan for this country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Way Back. Join our community exploring how Britain can rebuild its future in EuropeJoin the debate with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[7786,13,6764,33178,173,6355,20231,33176,33177,6767,14,6769,14438,5],"class_list":["post-72767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-andy-burnham","tag-britain","tag-color-image","tag-electoral-district","tag-england","tag-horizontal","tag-makerfield","tag-manchester-england","tag-member-of-parliament","tag-photography","tag-politics","tag-politics-and-government","tag-speech","tag-uk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116834316102979843","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}