Andy Burnham has been unusually guarded about the policies he would pursue if he moved into Number 10, but his first major announcements now give a clearer sense of his priorities and the kind of prime minister he wants to be. His main day-one pledge, made before he had even walked through the doors at Number 10, was on rough sleeping.
In an email to Labour members sent shortly after he delivered his speech, he said:
We are going to end rough sleeping in this country at the first opportunity.
People have told me it would take decades. Some say it's impossible. I'm not having that.
He told Labour members and supporters that this
shows you exactly what kind of government I intend to lead, presenting it as evidence of the style and values he would bring to office.
This is also an example of his much-vaunted plan to bring
Manchesterismto the rest of the UK. As mayor of Greater Manchester, he made ending rough sleeping a priority when he was elected to the role in 2017. His hope of eradicating it by 2020 was not met, although numbers are still down significantly on what they were 10 years ago.
It is also intended to show Labour members and supporters that when he pledged to be
authentically Labour, he meant it: that he would stand up for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in society. The announcement is likely to go down well with Labour’s left wing. In 2023, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn revealed that he had planned to make a similar announcement on his first day as prime minister.
It is also likely to be welcomed across the party, which cannot be said about all of Burnham’s planned policies.
Andy Burnham pledges cost of living help in first speech as prime minister
Burnham pledges to end rough sleeping in first speech as prime minister
He'll be the first Andy in No 10 - but his rise to power has been decades in the making
Later this week, he is expected to change the government’s stance on oil and gas exploitation, with a new energy secretary in place. Labour MPs worried about the Green Party taking their seats will be concerned about this, while many more will worry about whether it could dilute the government’s commitment to net zero.
How will he tackle the cost of living?
He has also promised to do something about the cost of living, with more detail due tomorrow on the
breathing spacehe is offering hard-pressed families. Extending Manchester’s £2 bus fare cap would be a tangible step and would also differ from the Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves £3 cap.
With energy prices rising again, there may be action there too. The former minister Miatta Fahnbulleh has spent the past few weeks working on policy options. She is the former head of the New Economic Foundation think tank, which wants bolder cost-of-living measures, from rent controls to making bus journeys entirely free for under 25s.
Will he set out a wider economic vision?
The question is whether Burnham will go beyond announcing specific policies and set out a broader vision. He indicated in his speech that he would explain how the cost-of-living measures will be paid for, so he may also make the broader argument, which he believes, that taxes on income are too high and taxes on wealth are too low.
He could also expand on his Times interview and pledge to raise tax thresholds at least for basic rate taxpayers, while pushing up capital gains tax. He has pledged to stick to Rachel Reeves’s
fiscal rules, which limit debt and borrowing, so any changes are likely to come through
re-prioritisationof existing spending rather than new money.
Even so, that would still tell its own story about how he intends to govern.
What does this say about the government he wants to lead?
More broadly, Andy Burnham has not exactly managed expectations. He has promised nothing less than a new economic model, leaving behind an era of centralisation, privatisation and de-industrialisation.
Just as rough sleeping is meant to signal to party members where he stands, he will soon need to set out symbolic policies that reveal, to voters and the markets alike, what the economic reality will be behind the radical rhetoric.
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