Andy Burnham guarantees 10-year mission to lift residing requirements in main speech

With only weeks to go until he is expected to become Prime Minister, Andy Burnham will use a key speech to pledge to raise living standards through reindustrialisation, housing, infrastructure and reform of essential utilities

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Andy Burnham will promise to lead a 10-year mission to drive up living standards as he sets out his vision for Britain.

With only weeks to go until he is expected to become Prime Minister, Mr Burnham will pledge to “lift Britain back up to where it should be” and vow to “change politics to work for us”.

In a highly anticipated speech in Manchester, he is expected to say: “I am going to try to give Britain the circuit-breaker it needs by taking power from the centre, giving it to the places and people who can use it best.”

But the former Cabinet Minister will admit that his generation has eroded public trust in politics – and must take responsibility for rebuilding it.

Mr Burnham will set out his stall only a week after he was sworn in as the MP for Makerfield following a decisive by-election win that set him on course for power.

Keir Starmer announced he would step down last week after his MPs deserted him, paving the way for a coronation for Mr Burnham on July 20 as the prospect of a rival candidate fades.

The lack of a contest has ramped up pressure on the former Greater Manchester Mayor to spell out his plans before he gains the keys to No10.

In a speech on Monday morning, he will promise a fundamental change in how Britain is governed with the biggest transfer of power out of Whitehall in modern times.

Mayors are expected to get new decision-making powers and funding, which could include allowing combined authorities to keep 100% of any increase in business rates that they generate to attract investment into their areas.

A “No10 in the north” would drive devolution and coordinate renewal across the nations and regions, with a push for “good growth in every postcode”, not just London and the South East.

Mr Burnham will commit to a decade-long mission to raise living standards through reindustrialisation, housing, infrastructure and reform of essential utilities, such as water.

Using the model applied in Greater Manchester, he will argue for a new partnership between government, business, universities and communities.

He is also expected to call for new political culture focused on putting place before party, problem-solving before point-scoring and long-term thinking over short-term politics.

Fixing the crisis facing young people not in education, employment or training (Neets) will also be a key plank of his plans. He is expected to call for major reform to the education system to prevent university being seen as the only path, and to deliver parity between academic and technical education.

And he is expected to commit to maximise support for British jobs and industry in public sector contracts, in return for more work placements and apprenticeships.

Senior Labour figures have united behind him as he swept up support from MPs, making the prospect of a rival leadership bid increasingly unlikely.

Housing Secretary Steve Reed, a close Starmer ally, said Labour would stand “four square behind Andy to deliver the change this country voted for two years ago”.

He said Mr Burnham was “committed” to Labour‘s manifesto, along with Rachel Reeves’s strict fiscal rules, which bar the Government from borrowing for day-to-day spending. But he acknowledged will “want to change some things”, with a shift in emphasis towards areas like devolution.

Speculation has intensified over who will be in his top team as ministers jostle for positions in Cabinet and MPs battle for influence.

Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell, a close ally of Burnham, said frontrunner Ed Miliband would make a good Chancellor – but said “tittle tattle” about Cabinet jobs was “unedifying”.

Asked if she thought Mr Miliband would be good at running the Treasury, she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “Yes I do actually, but actually I think this is a slightly distracting conversation, because I think we’ve all got a really important job to do.”

She added: “This is not about my job or anybody else’s job, this is about creating jobs in every part of the country and making sure that people have got opportunity, hope, well-paid decent work, they’ve got a home they can afford to live in and they’ve got a little bit extra to do the nice things in life.

“That’s the jobs that I’m bothered about and I think all this sort of tittle-tattle about who’s getting which job, I really just think is quite unedifying.”