What is Andy Burnham’s economic and political blueprint for Britain?

Burnham set out his vision in a speech in Manchester on Monday. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Burnham set out his vision in a speech in Manchester on Monday. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Analysis What is Andy Burnham’s economic and political blueprint for Britain? Richard Partington and Jessica Elgot Plans include greater regional power, public ownership of utilities and the end of trickle-down economics Andy Burnham vows to set up No 10 North as ‘nerve centre of rewired Britain’ Andy Burnham’s speech at the People’s History Museum in Manchester was the first time we saw the man likely to be Britain’s next prime minister set out his vision for power. He promised “good growth in every postcode” in a speech that focused on a significant transfer of power out of Whitehall to local communities and a new economic vision. But what might this mean in practice? Devolution double quotation mark It will be about offering new opportunities to extend devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by taking power deeper down. What else would be at the heart of Burnham’s plans other than devolution? Burnham leant on his experience as one of the most powerful regional mayors to say that that devolved power was nowhere near adequate. Britain is the most centralised G7 country for tax and spending policy, and is among the most economically unequal in the developed world. Key to changing this will be a new hub for No 10 in the north – based in Manchester, but with the remit to redistribute power across the regions. Rather than local areas applying to Whitehall to extend powers, sweeping new powers, including on tax, skills and industry, would be devolved by default. There was a nod to an idea, too, that Burnham has mooted in his book Head North – a German-style Basic Law – essentially a statutory right to equal living standards. Reform of Westminster and Whitehall double quotation mark They require radical change if the country is to get back on track. Burnham, who has only spent less than three days in Westminster since he was re-elected, said he was very concerned by the atmosphere he experienced as he met with groups of MPs – “a more fragmented, disjointed place than the one I left, and, frankly, unhappier,” he said. His intention appears to be the opposite approach to Keir Starmer, whose strategists banned MPs from tabling amendments or voicing any public dissent. That handling of the parliamentary party is widely seen as one of the No 10 operation’s gravest errors, because of how much resentment it created. Burnham said he would do things differently. Backbenchers should be empowered to act to change things in their local areas, he said, promising he would not be “using the whip system to create fear or close down debate”, though he stopped short of promising to abolish it. That greater sense of unity in parliament would be a useful directive to Whitehall, he said, suggesting that he wanted to end the advers