Can the new PM win business support for his vision of a more caring society, asks TERRY MURDEN
First he gave us hope, then a list of promises. Now we await delivery. Andy Burnham’s big moment lasted more than an hour as he slowly read from a battery of autocues suspended above the packed Labour conference audience. He spelled out his vision, which turned out to be a love letter to the nation based on a deeply personal loss. It was emotional and authentic. Enough to make us believe he sees the end-game. Now it’s down to him to prove it’s a journey we want to share.
There was a lot in the new Prime Minister’s first speech to his party’s annual set-piece gathering. None of the usual platitudes, but pragmatic solutions to problems that he accused politicians, including himself, of failing to confront. He has set himself a high bar but speaks with confidence that he can deliver the change that Labour promised in 2024.
His chief plan is to sort out the nation’s badly-resourced care system. It’s a biggie, and one that will mean some radical financial engineering by his team. There were commitments to end homelessness, to provide a better future for young people, part of an agenda for “rewiring” Britain and injecting optimism in place of hopelessness. He spoke of the people taking back control, a phrase that embodied a left wing agenda that could have been written by Jeremy Corbyn, but which substitutes compassion and a relationship with business for blunt authoritarianism and regulation.
Nor was this a wishlist of social benefits at the expense of growing the economy. He believes Britain can be a world leader in innovation and AI, producing the jobs and wealth that will underpin the revolution in public services.
Burnham showed he was not afraid to turn the page on Brexit, with a summit to consider “options” on how Britain’s relationship develops with the EU. This is a potential banana skin, not least because it was Labour heartlands that backed Boris Johnson’s exit plan. Burnham believes the experience of Brexit has shown it was a wrong decision; that Britain has lost, not gained, control and that the public is now sharing that view. Putting a plan to rejoin the EU in the next Labour manifesto is now a realistic possibility.
Cracking the energy crisis is also on his agenda, and he’s setting up a new unit, GB Grid, to focus on capacity issues in the electricity market, as well as help bring down costs. However, the real solution is breaking the link with wholesale gas prices and he wants Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh to accelerate work already under way that will finally enable consumers to benefit from lower bills.
He brushed over the big North Sea question, repeating that he would be “pragmatic” about oil and gas, but suggesting once again in his choice of word that he is minded to approve the Jackdaw and, possibly, the Rosebank fields. It’s just a case of getting the Holborn and St Pancras by-election out of the way to avoid it becoming an issue that the Greens would use against him.
The programme for change kept coming… an ‘adjustment’ to the pensions triple lock, a warning to the water companies in England to get their act together, and a similar warning to landlords to stop abusing the housing system.
His most passionate pledge was reserved for defending the integrity of the UK, making it clear that there will be no agreement to a second referendum on Scottish independence, though he did acknowledge that he could be a victim of his own plan to replace the first-past-the-post electoral system with a fairer process. His message of a unity of nations will sound hollow to those who feel he is too England focused and shows no sign of understanding Scotland’s needs and demands.
What held all this together was the timeline for change. Not much will happen until 2030. It was an early election manifesto. An attempt to nudge Nigel Farage out of the way, kill off any chance of a Tory revival and silence the nationalists threatening to break up Britain.
Even if he wins the next election, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says his care service is far from fully-funded, which will raise more questions about tax rises. His threats of public intervention to tackle the errant water companies may come to nought if the taxpayer cannot afford the cost of taking control.
In the meantime there remains a need for action on the cost of doing business, anti-social behaviour, shoplifting, and ongoing problems in the health service, issues that affect the communities he champions. He is facing an ongoing energy crisis, with soaring bills, that threatens to undermine his entire strategy, particularly his plan to re-industrialise Britain. It should tip the scales in favour of more drilling in the North Sea to protect jobs and generate revenue for the Treasury. It will also help head off the need for punitive taxes on businesses which will only support his plan if they are not expected to pay a higher price.
He has at least made a start in shifting the metropolitan focus of his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer and former chancellor Rachel Reeves on to the broader economy and into neighbourhoods that have felt forgotten for too long. In that respect he has recognised where politics has failed and made it his priority to make sure it works for everyone.
More immediately, he has reassured the markets that he will maintain financial discipline. Following his speech, bond yields, which have been soaring, fell back. The FTE 250, a more accurate measure of the country’s big companies, was flat, as was sterling. The utilities, which are at heart of the Burnham plan to give people more breathing space, were unmoved.
No shocks, then. Just what Downing Street would have wanted. It will be hoping the only way is up.
Leave a Reply