Andy Burnham used his victory rally yesterday to set out a sweeping set of policy ambitions, ranging from nationalisation to changes in education.
The newly elected MP for Makerfield ran through a broad list of proposals that offered little detail, but which critics say could push taxes and public spending even higher.
He pledged to bring an end to what he called “trickle-down economics”, placing large-scale renationalisation at the heart of his programme.
Speaking at a local football ground, Burnham repeated his warning to Labour that his election was the party’s “last chance to change”, while also acknowledging that Makerfield voters had not given him a “blank cheque”.
In remarks that appeared to echo Jeremy Corbyn’s 2017 slogan, “For the many, not the few”, he called for “an economy that works for everybody, not a few in far-off places”.
The former Greater Manchester mayor also set out a string of policy demands likely to form the backbone of any future bid to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, though opponents dismissed the agenda as a fantasy “wish list”.
Mr Burnham called for mass state intervention in key areas such as energy bills, water bills and rail fares. Although he refused to give details, he implied this would involve renationalising them as he did when taking control of Manchester’s bus network.
He pledged a ‘drive of reindustrialisation’ across the North requiring ‘big change in Whitehall’. This would include reforms to public procurement rules to prioritise investment in British industry and firms, he said, adding: ‘It’s about time we started backing British business.’
Andy Burnham speaks as he celebrates his victory in the Makerfield by-election at Ashton Town Football Club on June 19
Prime Minister Keir Starmer gestures as he talks with local residents as he visits a housing development on June 19
He also wants a change to the education system ‘so young people growing up here have clear paths into that new industry’.
The Cambridge-educated MP said the domination of education by ‘the university route’ should be replaced by one that offered a technical or educational path for everyone.
Mr Burnham also pledged to guarantee work placements for all those aged 16 to 18 who wanted one, describing it as the ‘kind of change we need if we are to give hope to young people’.
In a boost to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, he also suggested he wanted to go further and faster in cracking down on legal and illegal immigration.
Mr Burnham condemned mass immigration as a ‘cut-price approach to procurement’ of workers, echoing concerns he had heard on countless doorsteps during the campaign.
Referring to ‘houses in multiple occupation’ (HMOs), he said places such as Makerfield had become ‘HMO Britain’, demanding that business and the Government ‘hear the call’ of voters and end the unfairness of overloading working-class communities with illegal migrants.
But critics were scathing. One ally of Sir Keir warned that Mr Burnham would ‘tank the markets’ and create a Liz Truss-style mortgage rate crisis, adding: ‘A long wish list is not how you become Prime Minister.
‘There’s a really big difference between winning a by-election and being Prime Minister.’
Mr Burnham condemned mass immigration as a ‘cut-price approach to procurement’ of workers while speaking to supporters in Makerfield on Friday
Speaking of his plans, they added: ‘The spending commitments already made are not possible. It’s fantasy economics and [Labour MPs] know that.’
It came after immigration minister Mike Tapp, another Starmer ally, warned that moving too far from Labour’s election mandate would demand a fresh general election. He told the BBC: ‘Any candidate standing has to lay out exactly what they would do for the country, and if that agenda is too far from the manifesto, it’s really difficult to not call a general election.’
An ally of Mr Burnham warned candidly that he and potential leadership rival Wes Streeting had ‘shown little preparedness’ ahead of the election.
Mr Burnham has hired respected economic advisers to allay market fears that he will repeat Liz Truss’s mistakes, reportedly including former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane and ex-Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O’Neill. Despite this, it was revealed yesterday that banks such as JP Morgan were warning clients that Mr Burnham was set to breach Rachel Reeves’s fiscal rules for Government borrowing. He claims to back the rules, despite having urged Britain to stop being ‘in hock’ to bond markets.
Goldman Sachs added that his plans could delay interest rate cuts by the Bank of England.
Last night, a YouGov poll for The Times found only 21 per cent of voters nationally knew a lot or a fair amount about what he wanted to do as PM, 36 per cent knew nothing, and 43 per cent knew ‘not very much’.
