“We can make this next decade better than the last. We can lift the prospects of all our people and places. We can put more power into every postcode. We can let Britain believe again. We can bring back hope.”
This passage from Andy Burnham’s first parliamentary speech as prime minister on Tuesday exemplifies the positive qualities he brings to the role. His message that hope can be restored by political action and communicated clearly to citizens disillusioned with their representatives is an essential and welcome ingredient of his personality and programme. Coming after the increasingly vacuous managerialism of his predecessor, Keir Starmer, it could make a real difference to British politics.
The difficulties Burnham faces in realising and delivering on such change were also clearly expressed in his speech. “Political power was centralised, economic power privatised, the country deindustrialised,” under Conservative rule since Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, he said. On top of that, the UK’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union has added “a decade of low growth.” These conditions sharply constrain the freedom of manoeuvre of any prime minister, particularly one in Burnham’s reforming mould.
He must take account of the UK’s high and costly indebtedness which makes him strategically vulnerable to the bond markets as he decides between the welfare, community regeneration, public control, international and defence priorities his speech identifies. A rise in longer-term interest rates this week underlines this vulnerability.
An attractive feature of Burnham’s initial honeymoon period of travel around the UK over the last six weeks has been his candour in recognising and discussing these difficulties. His commitments to tackle smaller scale everyday problems facing people, arising from his time as mayor of Manchester, caught the public imagination.
They must now be matched by a demonstrable ability to handle the macro issues demanding attention at national and international levels, where he has less political experience. His willingness to compromise and his flexibility on methods to achieve welfare improvements, decentralised government and greater public control of resources have definite limits relating to existing budgets and extra taxation. The Conservative, Reform and Green opposition parties will not be slow to exploit such vulnerabilities.
Burnham is a convinced unionist, saying Scottish independence and Irish unity are not on the table at present and that democratic devolution of powers can hold the UK better together. Winning support across the UK will be vital in his attempt to get Labour elected for a second term.
Burnham has made a good start by resurrecting political hope. Delivery will be a harder business.