Andy Burnham's Vision for Britain: A Challenge to Thatcherism

Andy Burnham is not prime minister of the UK – yet. His speech on Monday at the People’s History Museum in Manchester might be read as campaign fodder. But given his lack of opponents, the race to be Labour leader looks already over. If he enters Downing Street, the oration would be the most serious challenge to the Thatcherite settlement attempted by any prime minister since 1979. In office, it will only become that if he turns the language of devolution and public control into institutional power.

For decades, Britain has privileged markets over public provision. It weakened local government and organised the state from the centre. And it treated utilities, housing and industry as best disciplined by private ownership and competition. The financial crash forced Gordon Brown into a necessary repudiation of some of those ideas. But that was an emergency. Since 1979, no prime minister has taken on all three pillars of Thatcherism at once. Mr Burnham’s speech does.

“Rewiring Britain” is key to his plans. The former Greater Manchester mayor is not asking Whitehall to hand councils a few powers and a cheque. He wants places to take charge of whole systems. That means taking over, say, skills and jobs support, and the money, legal powers and staff that make them work. Whitehall could still say no. But mandarins would have to explain why keeping the power in London would not hold that place back.

Manchester’s own story shows that powers alone are not enough. To make them work also required the city’s institutional capacity, fiscal flexibility and additional cash. The challenge for Mr Burnham’s “No 10 North” would be whether every place gets that opportunity – not just the places already strong enough to negotiate it.

The second prong of Mr Burnham’s programme is to question why, since the mid-1980s, Britain has been organised around asset owners and privatised essentials. Research suggests that the public are overpaying for the basics. Mr Burnham’s plan is to use “public control” to lower those costs, raise real living standards and give places hope. The phrase is designed to straddle Labour caution and voter anger. If cheaper essentials are the growth plan, Mr Burnham will end up either disciplining private utilities with extraordinary powers or owning them outright.

When he first ran for Labour leadership in 2010, Mr Burnham attempted to reclaim “aspiration” for his party. Mr Burnham says working-class aspiration goes beyond home ownership and accumulating assets. It could also be a council home, technical education and the chance to get on where you are. That makes sense – as do his promises for more social housing, public control and revived high streets. It won’t be easy. Critics have a point when they say that Manchester shows the danger: without state power over land, developers and ownership, growth can still enrich landlords while locals are priced out.

Mr Burnham’s speech offers an alternative operating system for the British state in terms of constitutional devolution, state control over pricing, reindustrialisation and a living standards test modelled on Germany’s Basic Law. It is also an appealing social-democratic pitch of a secure home and a skilled route into work built on good public infrastructure and local dignity. This, crucially, is a vision that could bring a country together. It is also one in sharp contrast to that offered by those who want to tear Britain apart.