What does Andy Burnham's speech say about his vision for Britain?
On 29th June 2026, Andy Burnham set out his vision for Britain in a major speech at the People's History Museum in Manchester. Here's what he said on each of the key themes he covered:
What does Andy Burnham want to use devolution to do?
"The time has come to build the broadest possible coalition of people to lift Britain back up to where we all want it to be.
After ten years of political turbulence since Brexit. And twenty years of falling living standards since the 2008 financial crash. Westminster hasn’t been working for people and it hasn’t been working for a very long time. The country isn’t where it should be.
We need a new determination to raise living standards of every person in this land.
I am going to give Britain the circuit-breaker it needs, by building a more collaborative politics in Westminster, by taking power out of the centre and putting it in the hands of the people and places who can use it best and, in so doing, creating a new sense of agency, possibility and hope flowing around the country."
What is Andy Burnham’s Manchesterism?
"When I started as Mayor in 2017, we set about building a new approach, a new politics based on the exact opposite of the Westminster approach: Place-first, not party-first. problem-solving, not point-scoring; Long-term, not short-term.
The Greater Manchester way is based on strong partnership between all sectors: public, private, community, voluntary, academic, faith and our trade unions.
Westminster and Whitehall are set up for conflict and they require radical change if the country is to get back on track. We are one of the most over-centralised countries in the world – and, worse, that over-centralised heart of the country is not pulling the same way but in different directions."
What is Andy Burnham’s Makerfield test?
"The whole country suffers when the regions and nations are not meeting their potential.
We will never get growth up to the level Britain needs unless every single postcode in the land is set up to contribute to it.
The stark imbalance in resources between national government and local government is holding back growth.
This country hasn’t thought in that way before – but, with the Makerfield Test at the heart of decision-making, it will do from now on.
It is time for Whitehall to accept that growth cannot be ordered from the top down. Instead, it can only be nurtured from the bottom up.
It comes from having the power at ground level to make a real difference; from a clear shared vision that everyone can understand and investors can back. Good growth in every British postcode."
What is Andy Burnham’s No 10 North?
"No 10 North will be the nerve centre for a rewired Britain.
We will create a more streamlined state with a clearer purpose: to power up all parts of the country and put a laser-like focus on growth and regeneration.
The change will be driven through the Prime Minister’s Office in an extended operation based here in Manchester.
The job of No 10 North will be to make power flow into the Midlands, into the South West, into the East of England and, into London, as much as the North East, Yorkshire & the Humber and here in the North West. It will be about offering new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by taking power deeper down.
It will be the conduit through which we redistribute power and resources across the UK.
It will coordinate all parts of government, at national and local level, to agree a long-term economic strategy and help all places set new growth ambitions.
It will be given a mission to strive for equivalent living conditions in all parts of Britain."
What will Andy Burnham do on the cost of living?
"There will be a 10-year mission to raise living standards across the land.
To do this, No 10 North will support the regions on three clear tasks: Reform of essential utilities; Reindustrialisation; And the regeneration of places.
On utilities, we will ensure all parts of the UK are able to take greater public control of essential services like water, housing, energy and transport, learning from the model of that has transformed our bus networks here in Greater Manchester.
We will set out 10-year plans to bring down the cost of these essentials – to individuals, families and businesses.
On reindustrialisation, we will support every region to set clear and credible industrial ambitions – and provide the support to achieve them, encouraging more cross-UK partnership between places with complementary industrial clusters, as Cambridge and Manchester have done on life sciences.
We will consolidate public and private investment at a place-based level and help all areas establish Good Growth Funds."
How will Andy Burnham grow the economy?
"We are such an inventive country and, going forward, we can be the world’s leading innovation nation.
This is the key to higher growth and I want more world-beating British manufacturers and service providers at the frontier of new technology and exporting to the world.
I will back our scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs and creatives – as I have done here– and show how Britain will be the Innovation Nation of the next decade.
We will get better at capturing full value from their ideas for UK plc by changing the culture in Whitehall when it comes to backing British industry.
We will make sure that all eligible public contracts are subject to proper social value weighting.
And we will do that to make sure British-based companies are in a better position to win contracts.
We need to safeguard sovereign manufacturing and production capability across the country in critical sectors like steel, defence, energy, food and farming.
Rather than being a marker of decline, we need our high streets to be the symbols of Britain’s renaissance. To reinforce that, we will reform business rates to support pubs and high street businesses, businesses that bring social benefits to our communities."
What does Andy Burnham say about young people and education?
"We need a complete rethink of how we support the next generation to succeed, and it has to start with the education system.
I take very seriously the findings of the recent report by Alan Milburn.
The days of a school system configured entirely around the university route will be brought to an end.
University is great for those who want it - but when are we going to focus on the life chances of those kids who want something different? The country hasn’t done that for a long, long time.
People have argued for many years for an education system based on parity between academic and technical and that is what we will build, giving every young person growing up here a clear path into a reindustrialised Britain.
Where young people need mental health support, it should be provided as part of in-work support.
And we will answer the call from Mayors, and particularly the Mayor of the North East, for devolution of employment support and changing the way we support and sustain people in employment, working much more through our community and voluntary sector at a grassroots level.
This is the difference that the Mayors can make, and in doing that, we will reduce the welfare bill in a way that is fair and lasting and helps people move forward."
What does Andy Burnham say about housing and house building?
"Another way to do that is by repairing the public housing stock.
Britain has lost almost 1.5 million council homes since the 1980s and around the same number of people are now on housing waiting lists and have been there for a very long time. The country is in a housing trap.
We are forced to chase rents in the private-rented sector through the benefits system.
When governments try to control these costs by freezing Local Housing Allowance, it makes families homeless and places unfunded pressures on councils when they have to pay for temporary accommodation.
Britain’s housing crisis is having a ruinous impact on its public finances.
So, working with local areas, No 10 North will oversee the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period. We will use public land, vacant public land to reduce costs.
A council home – a secure home – that was the foundation for everything. And then good technical education. We haven’t been giving people this stability – this ability to get on in life and it’s time we did."
What does Andy Burnham say on hope, aspiration and working class Britain?
"We can bring back working class aspiration – the chance of somebody growing up here to be everything they can be.
A sense of hope, of possibility. That things are achievable, that you might not have thought were before.
Having this focus on council homes again, on having them in all parts of the country it will represent a decisive shift to a more preventative and productive state, adopting a national Housing First philosophy as has been pioneered so successfully in Finland."