{"id":422621,"date":"2025-09-14T02:43:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422621\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T02:43:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T02:43:27","slug":"does-andy-burnhams-record-in-manchester-make-him-pm-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/422621\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Andy Burnham\u2019s record in Manchester make him PM material?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham passed the Japanese ambassador a pint of Boddingtons bitter and the crowd roared when Hiroshi Suzuki necked it, declaring: \u201cBy \u2019eck, it\u2019s gorgeous\u201d in a reasonable attempt at a Mancunian accent. <\/p>\n

The video, taken from what might have been a drab event marking Manchester and Osaka becoming sister cities last week, went viral. Burnham\u2019s job as mayor for Greater Manchester was done. \u201cHe\u2019s very good at getting people to do things,\u201d said Rose Marley, his close friend and adviser. \u201cThat\u2019s his great skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, he travels to Westminster for meetings as the clamour grows among some MPs<\/a> for him to mount a leadership challenge, something he has tried twice before.<\/p>\n

What do his 3,051 days as mayor, with powers over public transport, strategic planning, health and social care, economic development and the environment, say about his potential as a future prime minister?<\/p>\n

His Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) oversees ten borough councils: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. His job means working with the ten leaders. Most big decisions are made using a formal vote: each council leader has one vote, and Burnham, as chair and mayor, also has a vote. <\/p>\n

Last year, he was re-elected mayor, securing a third term with 63 per cent of the vote, in a campaign that focused on transport. However, he has faced some criticism over his handling of child sexual exploitation inquiries. He set up a review, which was limited, and some say his calls for a national inquiry with statutory powers have been too slow, and led by popular opinion. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Patrick Maguire: Keir Starmer should know to beware the mayors<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Burnham rose through the government ranks and became health minister under Tony Blair in 2006. Gordon Brown made him chief secretary to the Treasury in 2007, followed by cabinet minister for culture, media and sport a year later, where his most noted achievement was setting up the Hillsborough independent inquiry, which eventually cleared the fans of wrongdoing, and highlighted police failures. He was made health secretary in 2009, but was criticised for delaying a full public inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal, which included high mortality rates and poor standards of care.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cpersonable\u201d comes up a lot when discussing Burnham, who likes to dress in a variety of Armani suits and North Face cagoules: somebody who can chat about football or the weather, or the cost of a pint. The 55-year-old is married to Marie-France van Heel, whom he met at Cambridge University, and they have one son and two daughters. <\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

JAMES GLOSSOP FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES<\/p>\n

\u201cI got on with him very well, but would you want him as prime minister?\u201d said Martyn Cox, who was Conservative leader for Bolton Metropolitan council from 2021 to 2023. \u201cHe\u2019s got enormous qualities. He\u2019s extremely articulate, great people skills, a great communicator.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, Boris Johnson had all those skills too. As prime minister, you need the ability to say \u2018no\u2019 to people, and make the difficult decisions. Would I put Andy Burnham in charge of a company that I had a financial stake in? Would he be careful with my money and make the tough decisions? I\u2019m not sure on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Covid voice of the north<\/p>\n

The pandemic was arguably Burnham\u2019s most memorable moment as mayor, when he was anointed the \u201cKing of the North\u201d on social media. Outside Manchester Central Library, without notes, he delivered a speech lambasting the government for its implementation of lockdown measures, without sufficient financial support for businesses and workers. \u201cWe will not accept the north being treated as canaries in the coalmine for an experimental lockdown strategy,\u201d he told the cheering crowds. The government, which had offered \u00a360 million, increased its offer to \u00a390 million for business support.<\/p>\n

Clean-air zone<\/p>\n

In 2022, Greater Manchester planned to implement a clean-air zone, which would charge certain vehicles up to \u00a360 a day. It would be good for the environment, Burnham\u2019s green credentials and raise money for the city. \u201cI remember meetings where he gave his wholehearted support,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

It was supposed to roll out in May 2022, but the public backlash forced Burnham into a U-turn. Instead, Burnham argued that the city would achieve legal compliance with the government\u2019s national legal limit on nitrogen dioxide by investing in the new transportation system, the Bee Network. Supporters praised him for having listened; critics said he took the easy way out.<\/p>\n

Health and social care\"Andy<\/p>\n

Burnham speaks after the final report of the infected blood inquiry last year<\/p>\n

LEON NEAL\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Burnham oversees a budget of \u00a36 billion for health and social care across the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester. This means funding for local NHS services, adult social care and public health programmes. The aim is to better integrate services across the region between hospitals, GPs and mental health and social teams. However, some local hospitals have faced capacity issues and long waiting lists and some mental health services were rated \u201cinadequate\u201d by the Care Quality Commission last year following a BBC investigation that exposed a toxic staff culture and neglect of patients.<\/p>\n

Manchester Arena attack<\/p>\n

Burnham was only three weeks into his job as mayor in May 2017 when Salman Abedi blew up the Manchester Arena, killing 22 people, and threw the city into chaos. He co-ordinated a vigil at Albert Square and engaged directly with survivors and bereaved families. Burnham commissioned the Kerslake report into the attack, which criticised the fire brigade, but largely praised the actions of the police. The limitations of Burnham\u2019s report were later exposed by the Manchester Arena inquiry, which found the police had made a number of serious failings on the night. The police were shown to have misled the Kerslake inquiry at points and Burnham\u2019s report helped them control the narrative. <\/p>\n

Economic development<\/p>\n

Manchester is booming. The cluster of skyscrapers across its skyline is growing as developers rush to build in a city with good jobs for professionals and a high retention rate across its student population of five universities. Upcoming large-scale developments include the \u00a32 billion redevelopment of Manchester United\u2019s Old Trafford Stadium, the Viadux 2 tower \u2014 at 807ft the tallest building outside of London \u2014 and Gary Neville\u2019s \u00a3400 million St Michael\u2019s development, which features a luxury city centre hotel and 200 luxury apartments.<\/p>\n

Burnham\u2019s GMCA has been brought to court recently over \u00a3140 million in loans to Renaker Group, a developer in Manchester. Another developer has alleged preferential treatment. The case was thrown out, but rumours persist of a \u201cManchester mafia\u201d of favoured investors who get the red carpet treatment. There are also questions over a lack of affordable housing.<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

Burnham outside the Salford Lads Club, made famous by the Smiths<\/p>\n

DANNY LAWSON\/PA<\/p>\n

Buses<\/p>\n

Buses before Burnham were a mess in Greater Manchester. There were too many companies, some of which swapped over services in the middle of the night, making a return ticket useless. Theresa May\u2019s Bus Services Act gave metro mayors the power to introduce franchising. Burnham achieved consensus with the council leaders to franchise, which led to legal challenges from private bus operators, including Stagecoach.<\/p>\n

In March 2022, the High Court ruled in favour of Burnham. The Bee Network scheme has been a success in Manchester, with a 14 per cent increase in bus journeys year on year, punctuality up from 66 per cent to 80 per cent, a \u00a32 single fare cap for adult single journeys and a \u00a35 daily cap. Buses and trams now have a \u201ctap and go\u201d payment system.<\/p>\n

Rough sleeping<\/p>\n

The first flagship policy after Burnham was elected was called A Bed Every Night. This was launched in 2018 to provide emergency accommodation to rough sleepers. Last year, it was supporting more than 520 people nightly. Burnham promised to eradicate rough sleeping, but figures in Greater Manchester in the past three years have been increasing, from 102 a night in 2022 to 149 in 2023, to 154 in 2024, according to GMCA figures. Burnham has donated 15 per cent of his mayor\u2019s salary to homeless initiatives since 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham passed the Japanese ambassador a pint of Boddingtons bitter and the crowd roared when Hiroshi Suzuki…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-422621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115200354253236805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}