Andy Burnham vows to ‘convey again hope’ and develop the economic system with 10-year plan
The Prime Minister called out ‘decades of turbulence, negativity, point scoring, and divisive politics’ in his first Commons address
Andy Burnham(Image: CATHAL MCNAUGHTON, POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Andy Burnham has pledged to “bring back hope” to politics and kickstart economic growth across the country. The Prime Minister called out “decades of turbulence, negativity, point scoring, and divisive politics” in his first Commons address as premier.
Mr Burnham instead outlined “a clear, coherent, and credible approach to growth” that can unlock “positivity and possibility” in every postcode. He said: “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.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham departs 10 Downing Street to address the House of Commons(Image: Getty Images)
Mr Burnham hit out at the deindustrialisation and privatisation of the 1980s, and the impact of austerity and Brexit on regions outside the South East and London.
He insisted that taking back public control over services and utilities will be at the centre of the Government’s efforts to create economic growth. His broadside slammed the “failed economic model” that has led to high streets across the country being left desolate.
And he described Britain’s failed water industry as “a leaking monument to that approach, a country run in the private rather than public interest”.
Mr Burnham added: “The Government I lead will be relentless, relentless in giving people and places what they were promised 10 years ago: ownership and control. And from that control over their destiny comes change and growth.” He vowed that a 10-year plan for Britain, laid out later this year, will make the case for “stronger public control over these essentials”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Mr Burnham of “living in the past” and urged him to “start taking this job seriously”.
In their first exchange in the Commons, Ms Badenoch said: “The Prime Minister said in his statement that everything has gone wrong since the 1980s, still complaining about Margaret Thatcher. He is living in the past, and he wants to take us back to the 1970s.”
Mr Burnham also committed to bringing forward a Bill that will make sweeping reforms to the leasehold system of ownership. He said the move will allow people to move more easily to commonhold “so that finally we can reform this unfair system”.
The PM also announced he will attend the Cop 31 climate summit in Turkey in November, as he pledged to “meet the climate challenge”.
