After watching living standards only get worse in the UK it is time for Andy Burnham to ruffle some feather and make some changes in the UK for the greater good – despite who that might annoy
Over my entire adult life I have only seen the living standard in this country go down. I’ve watched my high street die, rent prices skyrocket and the cost-of-living crisis force people to resort to using foodbanks. I’ve seen my mates struggle to find work after taking on never ending student debt in an endless loom of doom and gloom.
City centres and public transport have become overwhelmed by homeless people who are in dire need of support. And honestly the state of the UK in 2026 is a pretty sorry picture. Ironically, the only positive I can think of in the country is the weather right now. Which is absurd for the UK.
And something needs to change. I think the entire British public is tired of watching things constantly getting worse year after year. I’m only 25 but at this point it’s all I’ve known. People speak of the ’90s like some type of blessed golden age I’m too young to have experienced. I want to be proud of the Britain of today. But to do that we have to have to make uncomfortable changes.
At several points over the last decade I’ve wondered if the previous UK government was run by a gaggle of sadists who had a sick kink watching the general public suffer while everything fell apart.
And after watching a clown show play out in parliament under the Tories I’ve reached a point where I don’t really care about mandates required to make change. I’m not fussed about what NIMBYs’ arguments against building anything in the country are.
I just want things to be better in this country regardless of the colour of the party steering the ship. So when Andy Burnham suggests re-joining the EU is among options the government could examine to improve things I’m not fussed.
I’m not sent into an irate rage because he’s “overturning” the 2016 Brexit referendum result. No one could predict the mess of world events that would hit the country – and the globe – since the 2016 election. There is no shame in conceding the UK flying solo wasn’t our smartest idea.
Conflict in the Middle East, COVID, fighting in Ukraine – we’ve had a rough couple years. And it’s clear the solo career ain’t been going as smooth as we would have liked.
I think there’s a reason why 10 years after leaving the EU not a single other EU member state has followed our example. We didn’t really stick the landing.
So after being plagued by a generation of career politicians the UK needs a bold radical leader who’s not afraid to ruffle some feathers to get things done. So I don’t care who Burnham might rub the wrong way whether that is scrapping the triple lock, doing the walk of shame back to the EU or clashing heads with party donors.
The UK needs action. We need it to be radical. And we need it to be now. And if Burnham is the prime minister to deliver a few uncomfortable changes then so be it.