Andy Burnham has accused former Labour prime minister Tony Blair of “retro thinking” and failing to understand modern Britain.
The Labour leadership hopeful – who is widely expected to challenge Keir Starmer if he wins the Makerfield by-election – has set out his own manifesto for change.
In the clearest indication yet of Burnham’s plans if he becomes PM, he called for widespread state intervention across transport, energy and housing.
Attacking “40 years of neoliberalism”, the Greater Manchester mayor argued that Blairism had failed to tackle Thatcherite economics. Burnham blames both for the current cost of living crisis.
It follows Blair’s own 5,700-word essay on the failures of the Starmer Government. He called on Starmer to rip up net zero targets, and workers’ rights legislation, end the state pension triple lock and cut the welfare budget.
Burnham condemned Blair’s ideas for more deregulation. But he thanked the three-time election winner for a sparking a major policy debate. It was a “beautiful thing”, said the favourite of the Labour left.
More state control over transport, energy and housing
“You can’t just leave it to the market, as Tony’s essay seems to suggest,” Burnham wrote in his own 1,500-word essay in The Times. New Labour failed to divert the UK away from “the direction set by Thatcher”, he added.
Burnham suggested he would expand social housing, arguing that “the failure to reform right-to-buy and fully restore the public housing stock is the root cause of today’s housing crisis”.
The leadership hopeful has previously said he would push councils to use compulsory purchase powers for mass housebuilding, as well as handing local mayors rent controls powers for their area.
Burnham has attacked “40 years of neoliberalism” (Photo: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters)Burnham also used his essay to say how “proud” he was to bring buses back under public ownership in Greater Manchester — suggesting he wanted to more state control over transport, energy and water.
“If you want higher growth in areas that don’t have it, you need strong public control and direction over both the investment strategy and the enablers of a more productive economy, such as transport, energy, water, education and housing,” he stated.
Less university for young people – but more technical courses
Burnham believes that successive governments had “overpromoted” university and not done enough to boost vocational, technical training courses.
“We won’t achieve a reduction in welfare spending unless we are also prepared to revisit flawed thinking on education,” he wrote on the NEETs crisis – the rising number of young not in employment, education or training.
The leadership hopeful suggested he wants to overhaul “a system that prioritises the university route over technical education and therefore fails to raise the aspirations of at least half of our young people”.
More devolution could boost “technical education”, said Burnham. He also argued that “an education system built on the firm principle of parity between academic and technical paths” could also help Britain meet the challenges posed by AI.
Rip up asylum accommodation contracts
Burnham also suggested that he wants to change the way private companies’ asylum accommodation contracts are managed by the Home Office.
Labour MPs in the North and the Midlands have repeatedly complained about the housing of asylum seekers in areas far from London, where accommodation is cheapest.
“Outsourced contracts that seek the cheapest accommodation in some of the UK’s most deprived communities is not the basis for a fair asylum system,” Burnham wrote.
Reform UK is hoping it can thwart Burnham’s bid in Makerfield with the asylum issue (Photo: Gary Oakley/Getty)Burnham also signalled wider support for tougher action to crack down on small boat crossings. “On small boat crossings, Tony [Blair] echoes many people in Makerfield in calling for much firmer control,” he wrote.
The left-wing hopeful appears to be backing Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s controversial immigration reforms, despite opposition from 100 Labour MPs.
Mahmood plans to scrap permanent refugee status and extend the time it takes to get full settlement in the UK. Burnham has said there had to be “root and branch” reform.
More devolution to the nations and regions
Burnham promised to bring about “maximum devolution of power” out of “Whitehall silos into the regions and nations”.
It is time for a “huge transfer of power, resources and personnel” to councils and combined local authorities, said the Greater Manchester mayor. They should get the “best chance” of winning government contracts, he added.
“At present we have a threadbare local state and a bloated national one. We will not create the conditions for local growth if things stay like that,” he wrote.
Burnham also used his essay to describe his approach to politics – sometimes known as “Manchesterism” – as a form of “business-friendly socialism”.
His plans come as Starmer and other senior Labour figures largely rejected Blair’s ideas.
The PM defended his own record in a 3,000-word essay on Substack, saying Britain had “changed dramatically” since Blair’s time.
Wes Streeting, Burnham’s main rival for the leadership, said the “striking weakness” in Blair’s essay was the lack of any mention of inequality.
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