Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who is hoping to win the keys to No10, accused Westminster of devastating working-class communities across the North
Andy Burnham reckons Britain has been on the “wrong path” for 40 years as he vowed to drag Labour and the country in a radical new direction if he’s elected.
The Greater Manchester mayor accused Westminster of devastating working-class communities across the North. He said a vote for him would be a “vote to change Labour because Labour needs to change”.
In a major speech in Leeds, the Labour leadership hopeful said: “My core argument is this. Britain has been on the wrong path, 40 years on the wrong path.” He said too many communities had been battered by deindustrialisation in the 1980s before being hit again by privatisation and austerity.
He attacked decades of “neoliberalism” and trickle-down economics. The mayor said: “That system has siphoned wealth out of those places and into the hands of people for whom life was already very good.”
It led Britain to “an economy that didn’t work for most working people”, with families paying “over the odds” for basics including housing, energy and transport. Mr Burnham also tore into what he called the “broken state” of local government, claiming councils had been stripped of the power and money needed to protect communities.
He said northern towns had been left “adrift” after the “draining away of economic, social and political power”. Calling for a “serious rewiring of this country”, he demanded sweeping new powers for towns and cities.
He added: “We can’t go on with a bloated national state and a malnourished local one. If politics can’t fix something as simple as a pothole, you’ve got a very big problem.”
And in a thinly-veiled swipe at Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour, Mr Burnham insisted the system was “not right” and vowed: “I’m here to do it.”
His comments pile fresh pressure on Sir Keir as Labour descends deeper into civil war over the party’s future after crushing election results and Wes Streeting’s shock resignation.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.