Burnham Sets Out Plan to Reverse Thatcher-Era Reforms as He Prepares to Enter Number 10 on Monday

Andy Burnham used his first speech as Labour leader on Friday to call for a decisive break with the economic model Britain has followed since the 1980s, describing his own appointment as the most significant shift in politics in four decades.

Speaking after being confirmed as party leader, Burnham said the country had taken “a series of wrong turns” under Margaret Thatcher, arguing that Britain had given up control of housing, water, energy and transport and left ordinary people exposed to higher costs as a result.

He said politicians of his own generation, including himself, had failed to challenge an economic model that “doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.”

Nationalisation and a return to public ownership

Burnham signalled he wants to move key utilities and housing back into public hands, arguing that decades of privatisation have left the state unable to control the cost of essentials or, by extension, the wider economy. He is reported to be preparing to bring Thames Water into public ownership within days of taking office, a move allies have compared to the incoming government’s flagship early act, in the way Labour’s 1997 decision to grant the Bank of England independence defined that government’s opening days.

He is also said to be weighing approval for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea, projects that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has previously opposed, suggesting potential tension within his top team even before it has been named.

Distancing himself from New Labour

Notably, Burnham’s speech made no reference to Sir Tony Blair or Gordon Brown, the leaders under whom he served as a cabinet minister earlier in his career. Instead he singled out Neil Kinnock, Labour leader from 1983 to 1992, crediting Kinnock’s speeches with drawing him into the party in 1985. Lord Kinnock was the only former Labour leader to attend Friday’s speech.

The omission was widely read as a deliberate move to separate his platform from the New Labour era, even though Burnham was a minister in both the Blair and Brown governments and held senior roles including health secretary and chief secretary to the Treasury.

Five pledges, but cabinet still undecided

Burnham used the speech to set out five commitments, including ending factionalism within the parliamentary party, working more closely with other political parties, and shifting power away from Whitehall towards the nations and regions. He described the effort to unify Labour as essential to defeating Reform UK, calling it the party’s “last chance to change.”

Despite reports naming Shabana Mahmood as his likely choice for chancellor, with Ed Miliband, Wes Streeting, Louise Haigh and Lucy Powell also tipped for senior jobs, Burnham insisted no final decisions had been made. He said he intended to respect “all shades of opinion” within the party when the appointments are announced on Monday.

Social care and the funding question

Burnham repeated his pledge to address England’s social care system, which he has previously described as neglected by successive governments and a source of financial strain on local councils. He argued that without greater public control over the cost of essentials such as housing, the state would struggle to fund investment in prevention or improve outcomes for families relying on temporary accommodation and benefits.

A record shadowed by debt

Burnham’s reindustrialisation pitch comes as his record as mayor of Greater Manchester faces renewed scrutiny. Government figures show the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s outstanding borrowing reached £1.34 billion by the end of the last financial year, up from £964 million when he took office in 2017, the highest debt of any combined authority in England. Adjusted for population, that is £462 per resident, the second highest rate nationally, and nearly two and a half times the West Midlands Combined Authority’s £544 million.

Much of the borrowing was linked to capital projects including the Bee Network transport system and housing and regeneration schemes. Shadow housing minister Sir James Cleverly said Burnham was leaving Manchester “weighed down” by debt while proposing similar spending commitments in national government.

Burnham will formally become prime minister on Monday, after visiting the King to confirm his intention to form a government, becoming the seventh person to hold the office in a decade.