Andy Burnham is an advocate for shifting power from Whiteall to the regions (Image: Getty)
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham – regularly seen as a leading rival to Sir Keir Starmer – has described fighting an “attritional battle” with Labour-run Whitehall as he laid out his vision for radical change. Mr Burnham’s blazing attack on Government departments will fuel speculation he will seek to return to Westminster and run for the leadership with the promise of epic reform.
The Labour Mayor blasted the Department for Education for its “ongoing resistance” to giving authorities such as his greater powers over post-16 education, claiming this is a “limitation on growth”. Mr Burnham condemned the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions for undermining efforts to tackle homelessness by freezing the local housing allowance.
He said: “That is contradictory if you are genuinely trying to reduce homelessness.”
The Mayor, speaking via video-link at an Institute for Government conference, boasted that Greater Manchester is the “fastest-growing city region in the country”. He said: “Surely this a moment to remove any barrier?”
The Mayor also took aim at the Department for Transport, saying: “It comes up with cost-saving infrastructure that actually limits the growth potential because it builds it in the wrong way and we’ve had those arguments around rail infrastructure in Greater Manchester.”
Mr Burnham went further, pushing for bold changes in Westminster, with the replacement of the first past the post voting system with proportional representation, an end to the Whips system used by party bosses to instruct MPs how to vote, and the abolition of the House of Lords.
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He pushed for the “replacement of the Lords with a Senate of the nations and regions so that we are all pulling in the same direction as a country”.
Venting his frustration with the way Whitehall works today, he said: “We need to feel the national state has the back of the local state. In effect, what we find ourselves is fighting it all the time in an attritional battle.”
Mr Burnham argued that getting rid of the Whips system would boost the “esteem” of MPs because they would be freed to be champions of their communities.
“Let them be advocates for their places,” he said
Mr Burnham, 56, is a former Health Secretary who has twice run for the Labour leadership. Polls show he is among the most popular party figures among Labour members.
The Labour conference opened to speculation Andy Burnham would make a run for the leadership (Image: Getty)
Mr Burnham, 56, is a former Health Secretary who has twice run for the Labour leadership. Polls show he is among the most popular party figures among Labour members.
He set out his complaint that Whitehall remains resistant to devolution of power.
“It’s not justified, I don’t think, for departments still to be resisting devolution,” he said. “Devolution is the direction. Devolution is bringing growth, not just here, but in other city regions as well.
“So, why are they allowed just to make us fight endlessly? You know, it’s attritional. We spend so much of our time making the case for devolution to the parts of the system that don’t want it.”
