“Good growth in every postcode” – that’s the central pledge of Andy Burnham, who currently occupies the slightly peculiar and constitutionally unique position of Next Prime Minister Presumptive.He’s made it to Parliament, clearing the crucial hurdle despite Sir Keir Starmer’s best efforts, but not yet into Downing Street. However, we all know that is just a matter of time, so his speeches carry the weight if not quite the immediate effect of a fully-fledged Prime Minister. So this promise is effectively the mission statement of a new, if as-yet unborn, government.
It’s a laudable goal, which speaks to the frustrations of many who feel that their areas have been neglected, abandoned and overlooked for many years.
Burnham’s proposed mechanism – greater localism – is similarly appealing. Perhaps surprisingly given their different party allegiances, on this topic he sounds a lot more like David Cameron than any of his Labour predecessors.
His argument is that the British state is over-centralised and as a result unresponsive, under-appreciative of the potential of many of its regions and insufficiently creative in its policy solutions. This is certainly true, and transferring power down, closer not just to town halls or community representatives but to actual citizens is a sensible way to improve each of those failings.
