Andy Burnham’s first speech as PM: what he said and what he meant

{"text":[[{"start":7.3,"text":"Andy Burnham spoke for less than seven minutes outside Number 10 on Monday in a speech that sought to set the tone of his premiership both in style and in the policy priorities he chose to highlight. "}],[{"start":19.65,"text":"Burnham eschewed the traditional prime ministerial lectern and autocue in a conscious symbol of his attempt at a less formal politics that stays connected to the lives of everyday voters. "}],[{"start":30.95,"text":"This was not the moment for detailed announcements. The speech was instead a succinct outline of Burnham’s politics that revealed some of the most important problems he will have to resolve."}],[{"start":42.15,"text":"Here is the full text of the speech, accompanied by FT analysis highlighting key themes. "}],[{"start":47.3,"text":"A call for the end of political turmoil"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":51.05,"text":"Without the instability of British politics in recent years, Burnham might never have been prime minister, but the acknowledgment that churn in Number 10 must end serves two purposes. "}],[{"start":61.75,"text":"Firstly, it signals to voters — and investors — that the new prime minister’s first task is to stop the turmoil. That is both a necessity for economic stability and a plea for time to implement his own agenda. "}],[{"start":75.4,"text":"Secondly, it neatly allows Burnham to link his diagnosis of the causes of political instability to the solutions he believes will cure them."}],[{"start":84.2,"text":"A promise of change"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":85.95,"text":"If Burnham has often been mocked for his changeability, this section outlines what has become the bedrock of his politics in the decade since taking over as mayor of Greater Manchester. It is a wholesale repudiation of Thatcherism, and implicitly of the new Labour era, which made its peace with the 1980s agenda. "}],[{"start":105.65,"text":"Burnham’s critique — that people feel powerless because decisions are made far away, either by politicians in Westminster or by executives in distant boardrooms — is a potent one. "}],[{"start":116.35000000000001,"text":"Yet it combines two very different trends. The stripping of power from local government and the privatisation of utilities were indeed political choices that can be reversed by a prime minister. But the deindustrialisation of swaths of northern England he bemoans reflected wider global economic trends that will not be so easy to reverse. "}],[{"start":136.25,"text":"A key tension underlies this section. How will Burnham reconcile the stability he promises with this pledge to bring “the biggest changes in the last 40 years”? Mostly immediately, will he feel bound by the 2024 Labour manifesto or seek to discard parts of it in the name of far-reaching change?"}],[{"start":153.9,"text":"Devolution of power"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":155.70000000000002,"text":"The promise of a 10-year plan for government from an unelected prime minister whose party is trailing in the polls is strikingly ambitious. "}],[{"start":164.3,"text":"His vision is becoming familiar but is no less distinctive for that. He will seek to devolve power over policy ranging from transport to housing, skills and growth to metro mayors, arguing this will not only be more democratic but offers a route towards reviving struggling regions. Water, buses, energy and other “essentials” all face closer regulation if not outright nationalisation."}],[{"start":190.05,"text":"The new element here is the pledge of policies to help ease the cost of living, to be announced on Tuesday, likely to include action on energy bills and transport. Mindful of investor nervousness about a rise in public spending, Burnham was careful to say he will show how this would be paid for, most likely through a combination of politically easy cuts — such as the already announced scrapping of the digital ID scheme — and future tax rises. "}],[{"start":213.10000000000002,"text":"Welfare reform through the ‘preventative state’"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":215.65000000000003,"text":"Burnham was careful to include a mention of the fiscal rules and defence, questions on which he has been either vulnerable or uninterested. But it is the previous issues that show where his heart is. Burnham has long favoured a stronger focus on technical education and a big expansion of council houses and the mention of mental health support was a hint of how he will approach welfare reform. "}],[{"start":239.35000000000002,"text":"His concept of a “preventative state” is at the heart of his political argument: the failure to offer people the chance of a decent home and a decent job has led to rising spending on sickness and housing benefits, and true fiscal discipline must involve controlling these costs. "}],[{"start":256.40000000000003,"text":"There are two key practical problems. While some “preventative” public spending will truly end up cutting costs in the long run, others will not. Assessing the cost-benefit ratio for each one and working out how to prioritise them will become Burnham’s key political challenge. "}],[{"start":270.40000000000003,"text":"And even the most cast-iron case for long-term savings requires spending up front that a country at the limits of its borrowing capacity will struggle to afford. "}],[{"start":280.95000000000005,"text":"The first policy intervention — to end rough sleeping"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":284.55000000000007,"text":"Making rough sleeping his first policy intervention as prime minister is deeply symbolic. Like his focus on “left behind” parts of the country, it shows a determination to help those forgotten by traditional politics. "}],[{"start":298.30000000000007,"text":"His promise to “put the care of people at the heart of everything I do” is perhaps the closest there is to a Burnham-ite creed, reflecting a politics driven more by personal connection than ideological consistency. "}],[{"start":311.30000000000007,"text":"The new prime minister began the day with a visit to a homeless shelter and the pledge mirrors the one he made on becoming mayor of Greater Manchester to end rough sleeping. He did not do so — although rough sleeping numbers fell significantly until the pandemic, they are now above where they were when he took office. "}],[{"start":329.50000000000006,"text":"Burnham ends with a call for a “new national sense of unity, of common purpose and positivity”. Some will say this is pure vibes. Burnham is banking on the hope that an electorate wearied by a decade of political strife will, for today at least, appreciate a leader who at least tries to be uplifting. "}],[{"start":350.55000000000007,"text":"Additional reporting by Jennifer Williams in Manchester"}],[{"start":361.95000000000005,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1784604093_5579.mp3"}