Manchester Man Sets Out His Plan: Andy Burnham’s First Policy Speech
Makerfield MP, and unofficial Prime Minister-in waiting, Andy Burnham, gave his first major speech setting out his vision for the country today, speaking at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. As the only declared candidate to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader and Prime Minister, the speech was intended to define the early terms of his leadership campaign and his plans for government. Burnham used the speech to argue that Britain needs a “circuit breaker” after years of political turbulence, falling living standards and centralised decision-making from Westminster.
The central theme of the speech was devolution. As a former-metro mayor, Burnham argued that Britain is one of the most over-centralised countries in the world and that growth cannot be delivered from the top down. He said he would bring about the “biggest rebalancing of power” the country has seen, with more powers and resources moved out of Whitehall and into regions, councils, mayors and local institutions. He presented the “Greater Manchester Way” as a model for national government, based on partnership between the public, private, voluntary, community, academic, faith and trade union sectors.
The headline announcement was the creation of “Number 10 North” in Manchester, described by Burnham as the “nerve centre of a rewired Britain”. This would be an extended prime ministerial operation based in Manchester, tasked with coordinating national and local government, redistributing power and resources across the UK, and supporting every region to set long-term growth ambitions. Burnham said the days of Whitehall resisting devolution would be “over for good”, with government departments and agencies required to support local and strategic authorities with staffing and resources.
On housing, planning and development, Burnham made one of the clearest policy commitments of the speech: a pledge to oversee the biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war period. He argued that the loss of council homes has trapped the state into subsidising private rents through the benefit system, while also increasing homelessness and temporary accommodation pressures on councils. Burnham said the programme would use vacant public land to reduce costs and would be part of a wider “housing-first” approach, treating secure housing as the foundation for better health, education and employment outcomes.
Burnham also backed higher-density residential development in towns, linking this directly to town centre and high street regeneration. He argued that bringing more homes into town centres would increase footfall, support local businesses and help protect more green spaces from development. Alongside this, he committed to business rates reform to support pubs and high street businesses that provide social value to communities.
The speech also set out three wider missions for “Number 10 North”: reform of essential utilities, reindustrialisation, and regeneration of places. On utilities, Burnham said local areas should be able to take greater public control of services such as water, housing, energy and transport, drawing on Greater Manchester’s bus franchising model. On reindustrialisation, he committed to regional industrial strategies, place-based investment and “good growth funds”, with a stronger role for universities, innovation, manufacturing and local supply chains.
Burnham also used the speech to signal a more interventionist approach to procurement and local economic development. He said public procurement should no longer be based on chasing the cheapest global deals, and instead should use social value weighting to support British-based companies, sovereign manufacturing and local apprenticeships. He linked this to critical sectors such as steel, defence, energy, food and farming.
On education, skills and employment, Burnham called for a system with greater parity between academic and technical routes. He argued that too much of the school system is built around the university route, and said young people should have clearer pathways into a reindustrialised economy. He also backed further devolution of employment support, with more delivery through trusted community and voluntary sector organisations, presenting this as a fairer way to support people into work and reduce welfare costs.
Overall, the speech positioned Burnham’s emerging leadership agenda around a ten-year mission to raise living standards, devolve power, regenerate towns and deliver “good growth in every postcode”. It was also his first substantive intervention on domestic policy for some time, and was rooted heavily in the themes that defined his time as Mayor of Greater Manchester: local leadership, public service reform, transport, housing, skills and place-based growth. There was less emphasis on the wider economy, foreign policy or geopolitics; instead, the speech was built around the idea that national renewal must start locally, with Burnham effectively making the case that “all politics is local”.
