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Burnham says 40 years of government policies have created 'economy that didn't work for most working people'
Burnham sets out what he calls his “core argument”.
My core argument is this.
Britain has been on the wrong path, 40 years on the wrong path, a path that has damaged communities across the north.
The deindustrialisation of the 1980s was devastating for places across Makerfield like Ashton-in-Makerfield … You know exactly what I am talking about. The draining away of economic, social and political power from these places left adrift. That’s what happened.
That deindustrialisation was then compounded by deregulation, privatisation in the 90s and austerity in the 2010s. It all adds up to 40 years of neoliberalism that have not been kind to the north of England – 40 years of trickle-down economics that did not, in the end, trickle down very much at all to Platt Bridge or Hindley.
In fact, that system has siphoned wealth out of those places and into the hands of people for whom life was already very good.
It created an economy that didn’t work for most working people. It led to the loss of good jobs, the decline of our high streets, and the neglect of our towns. It led to people paying over the odds for the daily basics energy, housing, water, transport.
And in the 2000s, and particularly in the 2010s, our councils across the north of England were stripped of the resource and power to do anything about it.
They just don’t have the agency that they should have to protect people from these changes. And that’s the broken state of local government in England that we see right now, particularly felt in councils across across the north.
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Burnham says he's 'not proposing UK considers rejoining EU', and rerun of Brexit arguments 'last thing' Britain needs
Towards the end of his speech, Burnham addressed the Brexit issue.
Referring to how he thought further devolution could help constituencies like Makerfield, he said:
It will bring people back together, get places like Makerfield working and move us beyond some of the divisive debates of the last decade.
My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments.
Britain will be stuck in a permanent rut if we’re just constantly arguing and people are pulling away from each other.
It is time, surely, isn’t it, to bring people back together, to focus on what we’ve got in common, to get the growth coming to all places. That is what we need in this moment. And it’s really important that, whatever comes out of this byelection, there’s a more unifying feeling about the change that we need to work towards.
I am not proposing that the UK considers rejoining the EU. I respect the decision that was made at the referendum, and it’s going to undermine everything that I’ve said about strengthening democracy if we don’t respect that vote.
If we are to unify communities and the country, it means focusing on the big economic challenges we have – the structural problems that I’ve been talking about, the fact that we gave away so many of the levers of economic power when we deregulated and privatised.
This is quite a forceful way of shutting down claims that, if he were to be elected MP for Makerfield and then Labour leader and PM, Burnham would put Britain on a journey to rejoining the EU.
Wes Streeting make this a Labour leadership election issue on Saturday when he said he would like the UK to rejoin. Burnham is not as pro-EU as Streeting, but at Labour conference last year he said: “I’m going to say I want to rejoin. I hope, in my lifetime, I see this country rejoining the European Union.” Burnham is now 56.
Burnham’s comments today are compatible with what he said last autumn. He is not ruling out the UK ever rejoining. But in saying that he does not want a rerun of the Brexit arguments, that he wants to unify people, and that the government needs to “respect the decision that was made at the referendum”, he is kicking the issue quite far into the long term. This is not the sort of language likely to come from a leader planning a bold statement about EU membership in the next manifesto.
Streeting, by comparison, takes a different approach; he has indicated that he does want to have an argument about this.
Makerfied voted 65% for leave in 2016 and, by closing down the “Brexit betrayal” line of attack, Burnham will be boosing his byelection chances. But his statement today may disappoint Labour party members who are much more aligned with Streeting’s view on this.
Burnham complains about councils being 'hollowed out', and says relations between central and local government need big change
Burnham went into more detail about how councils have been deprived of their powers to improve residents’ lives. (See 1.56pm.)
If politics can’t fix something as simple as a pothole, you’ve got a very big problem. Why should people have faith in the ability of politics to do anything if it can’t do something as simple as that?
And how unfair is it on those councillors who work hard in their communities and then just get swept away because of the failure of national government to protect local government and give them the ability to make basic improvements in their communities.
It’s just not right. It needs saying that it’s not right, and I’m here to do that.
Burnham says there should be “a completely different relationship between national and local government”.
What we’ve got at the moment across large parts of the north of England - as good as the last decade has been in terms of the start we’ve made with devolution – underneath the combined authorities, sadly, we have hollowed out councils and we have an unaccountable state where too much is delivered by arm’s length or outsourced agencies that local councillors can’t control.
So many crucial services like housing and energy, delivered by fragmented agencies outside of local democratic control.
As an example, he cites the way he and Josh Simons, the former Makerfield MP, had to “to move heaven and earth” to get agencies to deal with flooding in the constituency.
Burnham says 40 years of government policies have created 'economy that didn't work for most working people'
Burnham sets out what he calls his “core argument”.
My core argument is this.
Britain has been on the wrong path, 40 years on the wrong path, a path that has damaged communities across the north.
The deindustrialisation of the 1980s was devastating for places across Makerfield like Ashton-in-Makerfield … You know exactly what I am talking about. The draining away of economic, social and political power from these places left adrift. That’s what happened.
That deindustrialisation was then compounded by deregulation, privatisation in the 90s and austerity in the 2010s. It all adds up to 40 years of neoliberalism that have not been kind to the north of England – 40 years of trickle-down economics that did not, in the end, trickle down very much at all to Platt Bridge or Hindley.
In fact, that system has siphoned wealth out of those places and into the hands of people for whom life was already very good.
It created an economy that didn’t work for most working people. It led to the loss of good jobs, the decline of our high streets, and the neglect of our towns. It led to people paying over the odds for the daily basics energy, housing, water, transport.
And in the 2000s, and particularly in the 2010s, our councils across the north of England were stripped of the resource and power to do anything about it.
They just don’t have the agency that they should have to protect people from these changes. And that’s the broken state of local government in England that we see right now, particularly felt in councils across across the north.
Burnham says Makerfield byelection 'very necessary' because UK needs big debate about 'how politics needs to change'
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is speaking now.
He says they are celebrating a decade of devolution in the north.
But he says more, big changes are needed.
And he turns to Makerfield.
Makerfield is no ordinary by election. I’m getting plenty of advice about what I should do – the main piece being, ‘For God’s sake, get some new running shorts.’ [See 12.59am.]
I believe the byelection is very necessary.
In my view, the time has come for a much bigger debate about how politics needs to change if it is to work properly for the north of England, because it doesn’t, it doesn’t. And this is what we’ve got to focus on.
People are losing faith in politics more than anything. That’s what people’s votes were saying on Thursday 7 May.
They deserve a bigger response than politicians have given them before, and that’s what I intend to provide in this by election like no other.
North East mayor Kim McGuinness says northerners providing UK with 'drumbeat of economic growth'
At the Leeds conference, Kim McGuinness, the North East mayor, is speaking now. She says “it’s northerners who will provide this country with the drumbeat of economic growth.” She says:
Already over the last two years, we’ve seen more than £60 billion committed to the North in government funding and private sector investment … That’s forging a new path for trains, turbines and trade and trade.
But it’s not just that thriving economic opportunity that unites the North.
What you get from us is pride – visible, unmistakeable. People choose this northern life. They want to be part of our northern story.
She says one of the problems facing Britain is that “people simply do not feel heard”.
But the mayors in the north are changing that, she says.
It’s a radical shift in the way that people access power in this country. Growth, jobs, delivery. That’s why we’re here. That is our northern story. The prospectus that we’re launching today genuinely presents a new age of ideas and opportunity.
Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, claims that if Rachel Reeeves does scrap the proposed rise in fuel duty (see 12.25pm), it will be a victory for Tory campaigning.
According to reports in today’s @thetimes, after months of campaigning led by @KemiBadenoch & the @Conservatives team, it looks like @RachelReevesMP is going to scrap @UKLabour’s plan to hike fuel duty
A huge victory for drivers across the UK!
Earlier I mentioned the Aberdeen South byelection. (See 10.30am.) Luke Tryl, the More in Common pollster, reckons the significance of this contest should not be ignored.
Lots of focus on Makerfield; but Aberdeen South will tell us a lot about battle for right. Is the first by-election you’d expect the Tories to be properly competitive in, they were a close second in 2024 (and did well in area in May). Big test if they can squeeze the Reform vote
If they fall much further back that’s dangerous as unlike other by elections can’t say “this was never Tory turf”. It they are able to close gap and keep Reform distant may say something about future of electoral politics on right. SNP however clear favourites overall.
At the Great Northern Investment Summit in Leeds, Anita Rani, the Woman’s Hour presenter, opened the proceedings. Tracy Brabin, the Labour West Yorkshire mayor, went next. She said the conversations at the summit would shape “the next decade of northern growth”.
Paul Thwaite, the NatWest CEO, and a sponsor of the event, is speaking now.
Lammy promises 25% cut in number of children jailed while they await trial
David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, is due to make a Commons statement at 2.30pm about the youth justice reform and delivery plan.
Here is Kiran Stacey’s story about the plan.
And here is the Ministry of Justice’s news release.
Andy Burnham is due to speak shortly at the Great Northern Investment Summit in Leeds.
Burnham rejects claims his morning jogging routine fake
Andy Burnham started his day with a run this morning. His shorts are an improvement on the pair he was wearing at the weekend.
On social media, Burnham has also been defending himself against allegations that his jogging routine is fake.
This is what he posted in reply to a Daily Mail account promoting this story headlined: “Burnham is in the running... but why did the jogging mayor drive home?” Burnham said:
It’s part of my regular routine. I often leave my car at Newton station and do my morning run to pick it up. I did it again today because I had a pint at the match. I would say check it with my neighbours but don’t as they don’t deserve the intrusion on our road.
Burnham also delivered similar messages on X in reply to a GB News presenter and to a pro-Reform UK YouTuber who also claimed his jogging excursions were staged.
No 10 wary of saying Starmer will stay on as PM until next election, and will fight any leadership challenge
At the Downing Street lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson declined to repeat Keir Starmer’s claim last week that he would fight any challenge to his position. The spokesperson also declined to repeat what Starmer told the Observer in an interview published a week ago saying he wanted to serve a full second term.
Instead, the spokesperson just told reporters they could refer to the PM’s own words.
Asked if Starmer was still committed to fighting any leadership challenge and serving another 10 years in office, the spokesperson replied:
You’ve got his words, he said I think in that interview you’ve just cited, ‘what I’m doing is spelling out the scale of the challenge that we face, it’s the same argument I was making before the election, which is after the damage of the last government it will take time to clear that damage up and to build the better, stronger country that we need, that’s the decade that I’ve been talking about’.
As I say, the prime minister is fully focused on delivering change for working people and that’s the job he’s getting on with.
Asked repeatedly why they would not repeat that the prime minister will fight the next election, the spokesperson said: “You’ve got his words and I can’t supersede the prime minister’s own words.”
The spokesperson also declined to say whether the PM expected there to be a leadership election. But he pointed out that David Lammy stressed in his interviews this morning that there was no timetable yet for a leadership election.
No 10 declines to deny report saying fuel duty rise planned for September to be scrapped
Yesterday, in a story for the Sun on Sunday, Kate Ferguson said that Rachel Reeves is expected this week to announced that the 5p increase in fuel duty that was due to take effect in the autumn will not now go ahead. Other papers have written this up to.
At the lobby briefing this morning, asked about the story, the PM’s spokesperson said he would not comment on “tax speculation”. But he went on:
We are determined to keep costs down for motorists who are paying more because of the war in Iran. That’s why we extended the 5p fuel duty cut twice, until September, and why we will continue to monitor the situation.
As the chancellor has set out, a rapid de-escalation in the Middle East remains the best way to keep pump prices low.
We we will also take the necessary decisions to help families with the cost of living and protect the public finances.
Opposition parties have for some weeks now been calling for the planned fuel duty increase to be scrapped.
Kemi Badenoch has achieved her best rating yet in the monthly survey of Conservative party members by the ConservativeHome website asking them how they assess the performance of shadow cabinet ministers. She is well ahead of Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, who is the second most popular shadow minister.
The full ratings are here.
