People are hungry for change – Burnham must deliver it, or we face real political danger
Andy Burnham after his victory in the Makerfield by-election (Mark Waugh / Alamy)
4 min read
After two months as PM, the great question about Andy’s premiership is already unavoidable: was the Makerfield by-election a launchpad for a project to reconstruct Britain, or was it for another Labour government of a familiar kind?
Burnham did not win Makerfield by offering voters more of the same. Faith in Westminster politics had worn thin in the seat and throughout the country too. His pitch was deliberately different. He promised new flood infrastructure, a link road, action on the toxic waste, new health facilities, a pharmacy, a GP surgery and to save the library. Not abstract promises about “growth” or “opportunity”. But concrete commitments about places, services and the essentials of working-class life in one Northern town.
In truth, his vision for Makerfield did more than that: it projected onto the whole country a different setup. Voters are not fools. They know the difference between political talk about them and a government that actually does things with them.
The first weeks in office matter and we saw measures aimed squarely at household finances, like the abolition of VAT on domestic electricity bills and the planned £2 bus fare cap in England outside London. There were strong pledges too to end rough sleeping in England and funding for housing, healthcare and addiction support.
For too long, working people were told that there were no alternatives: bills must rise, public services must contract, councils must manage decline and communities must adapt. Politics at its best is not a spreadsheet exercise, or a communications grid written in Whitehall’s lofty offices. At its best, it is a core argument about who the economy is for.
Burnham’s great advantage is that he is instantly likeable and his promise that governments can intervene and make a difference is correct. But there is a sting in the tail. Promises create expectations. Not only in Makerfield. Deference to politicians was jettisoned long ago, and today undelivered expectations can be politically dangerous.
Take the water industry. He talked initially about public ownership, but we now hear more about public control. And there was expansive language about council housing, but now the talk is of social housing.
There is a world of difference between telling a privatised utility company to behave itself on the one hand and changing who ultimately owns it on the other. And there is a chasm of accountability between social housing managed by private social landlords and council housing managed by elected bodies like local councils with whom tenants can interact at election time and in between elections in councillors’ surgeries.
Burnham’s great advantage is that he is instantly likeable and his promise that governments can intervene and make a difference is correct
It’s true that the left can be impatient, and it is still early days for the new government. But we are impatient for a reason. We see a country that has been profoundly damaged by austerity and an electorate hungry for change. We’re aware also that sitting in the wings is the far right, awash with crypto billionaires’ money. They are hungry for power, which they would use to inflict major damage on our fragile democracy. Any small slip by the new team will be pounced upon.
Burnham said Britain spent decades transferring power and wealth upwards. We had suffered decades of neoliberalism. He proposed a new model: stronger public services, empowered regions, public ownership and an economy built around working people. But serious ambitions require meaningful delivery.
Promises made in Makerfield can be a measuring stick. Did all of Britain’s Makerfields get the new health facilities they need? Did the libraries survive? Did the roads and flood defences materialise? And did real control over our lives pass over to our communities?
The danger for Burnham is that his language of transformation becomes another Westminster word game. The country doesn’t want a slightly more sympathetic version of managerial Labour. He proposed change. And the voters responded.
The stakes are high. Now he occupies the buildings North and South from which the government makes the rules. People in Makerfield and beyond are entitled to ask when those promises become reality. Better speeches help, but what’s needed is change for the better in people’s lives.
Jon Trickett is the Labour MP for Normanton and Hemsworth
