How would PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham change Britain? - The Latest
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What vision does Andy Burnham present for the UK?
This is The Guardian.
Number 10 North will be the nerve centre of a rewired Britain.
There was a bit of a fear that it could just be this tokenistic symbol, but actually this seems to be the sort of crucible of power for redistributing power across the country.
Imagine good growth in every postcode. and hope in every heart.
Burnham at the minute is sort of on the crest of this wave, showing people a bit of what he wants to achieve while not properly being held accountable.
From the Guardians today on Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoth. Andy Burnham, our potential Prime Minister-in-waiting, has given his first major policy speech in Manchester. Josh Halliday, you're our North of England editor, meaning Andy Burnham is a man you know very well in his previous job as Mayor of Manchester. Was this the Andy that you know, or was this a more Prime Ministerial performance in tone and vibe?
How is 'Number 10 North' expected to change governance?
I mean, Andy Burnham is basically walking on water at the minute, isn't he, in terms of Labour supporters. He practically got carried in on people's shoulders. They were that enthused to see him. The applause alone when he entered the room lasted about a minute. Burnham is just trying to ride this wave of momentum that saw him to victory in Makerfield. hitting the campaign buttons that he pressed all the way through that campaign. But this time to an audience of Labour supporters, it was interesting to see quite a few government figures there at the front of the hall, all wildly cheering and applauding.
Who was there? Who was on the front row?
So we had Johnny Reynolds, the chief whip, a great Manchester MP.
What criticisms does Andy Burnham face regarding his policies?
We had Lucy Powell, deputy prime minister. We had Ali McGovern as well, a housing minister. And they were all wildly applauding as he dismantled the state of Whitehall and Westminster and talked about everything he's going to destroy and reform over the next, well, if he becomes prime minister, what he sees as his 10-year plan.
Yeah, and I suppose the criticism in the last few years about Keir Starmer is he's someone that you can't really describe his politics or his political vision, or at least he campaigned on that very simple slogan, change. As has been shown in the last couple of years, it has been hard to find real political substance within that. With Andy Burnham, we are blessed to have a very weighty tome that he published in 2024 called Head North. Have you been dusting off your copy of that book this morning, Josh? And I suppose what was in that book has informed a lot of what we heard today about a shifting of power away from the South.
Absolutely. I mean, I'm ashamed, perhaps, to say that I've got both the audiobook version, which you can hear Andy and Steve Rotherham deliver in their accents, which is, for me, the peak version of this book, and a print version I ordered from Amazon, which happened to be signed.
How does Burnham's past as Mayor of Manchester influence his plans?
This speech today was, you know, an expansion of this manifesto that he set out in Head North a few years ago, which, you know, This book didn't make the headlines at the time, but now it's required reading for anyone who wants to understand Andy Burnham and what he might do in power. It's hard to overstate, actually, the contrast between an Andy Burnham as Prime Minister and a Keir Starmer. Obviously, Andy Burnham is at the peak of his powers right now, and so he's very much relishing this moment. The place where he delivered this speech today, the People's History Museum in Manchester, is the museum that that you know displayed the the famous jacket that he wore in in the covid speech that made him the king of the north right so like yeah this is his place these are his people you know he's got all these relics of revolutions from from down the years so like it was
laden with symbolism and he very much enjoyed that. He came in with jokes. That is important for people, uplifting people in the room. And then, yeah, when he got to the policy side of it, it was all about giving people a bit of hope back and talking about this huge rebalancing of power across the country.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What vision does Andy Burnham present for the UK?
0:00–1:12
2
How is 'Number 10 North' expected to change governance?
1:12–1:53
3
What criticisms does Andy Burnham face regarding his policies?
1:53–3:15
4
How does Burnham's past as Mayor of Manchester influence his plans?
3:15–4:31
5
What does Burnham's book 'Head North' reveal about his political stance?
4:31–5:24
6
How does Burnham plan to redistribute power across the UK?
5:24–6:35
7
What implications does Burnham's potential cabinet have for the Labour Party?
6:35–11:19
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Today in Focus
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