To think Andy Burnham needs to start to show us he can talk about more than "the north" and "buses"

[joeymaynardssandwiches]

I want to get behind Andy Burnham, I feel he's got the potential to be a great counterpoint to the rise of reform. And I do know it's "silly season" in politics and with parliament closed I guess there's a limit on what initiatives can be announced

But so far it feels like he hasn't broken away from being a northern caricature who just bangs on about buses.

I'm a "northerner" (who always thought of Manchester as the part of Midlands ) but I can only do my job in the south and I can assure Andy there are big pockets of deprivation in the south too.

And I am all for public transport, and investment in it. But it just feels like a real "low hanging fruit" approach for his first few weeks and I want to hear him talk about thornier and less uncontroversial issues.

And admittedly I haven't been reading every news story in depth as I have been busy with the kids so he may have discussed other things. But that is my overriding impression at the moment and it feels a bit frustrating

As a Mancunian- he is embarrassing (most people I know feel the same). A terrible public speaker too, looks like a rabbit in the headlights every time he's interviewed. I think he is just sticking to what he's comfortable with because there's nothing else of substance there.

I feel a bit frustrated. I don't have any real political allegiance although I am slightly left leaning. But I can see we need a strong and bold leader to fight the rise of Reform and so far it's all been so basic and superficial

I want to like him but logically I know that Trump, Putin or Netanyahu would eat him for breakfast.

If you think he’s only talked about buses, then I do think you’ve (understandably) missed a lot of what he’s actually said. Obviously, it’s early days - and like you say it’s hard to get a full picture when Parliament aren’t actually sitting- but I genuinely don’t think you need to worry about him being a Primeminister who only goes after low hanging fruit.

For a start, he has spoken alot about health and social care and how we fund it, which is one of the thorniest and hardest to tackle issues we’re facing. He’s also talked about overhauling the education system with more focus on technical, vocational education; ending rough sleeping; and fundamentally changing the way the state operates through devolution. Whether he’ll achieve everything he’s talked about is another question, but I certainly don’t think he’s a politician who thinks small.

That’s interesting - because I think he’s actually the perfect leader to tackle the rise of Reform, just because his manner is so engaging and authentic. I think he makes Reform look incredibly out of touch in comparison. Very hard for Farage to present as the “party of the people” against Andy Burnham.

I think he hopefully is the right person. And I know it's early days.
But (and I say this as a northerner exiled in the south) he needs to understand that there are people struggling right across the country. And while I am pleased to see things get a bit less "London centric" there also has to be a real effort to engage with people across the country

'I say this as a Northener'...are we supposed to immediately support him as we are from the North? Actually I do support him, I am from the north but this continual 'Im a Northener' stuff is boring. Also I don't see much of the news...in case useful things about Burnham are pointed out ..

He’s in Ukraine today offering blueprints for long range missiles so either you aren’t paying attention or you’re being disingenuous

I think that’s what he’s doing though, isn’t it? I saw him on ITV news the other day in Devon or Cornwall talking about the specific challenges in the region.

To be honest, I think a lot of this idea that he only talks about the North has been manufactured; obviously he talks about his upbringing in the Northwest, and a lot of his biggest political achievements were in Manchester, so he gives those examples; but whenever he talks about his vision for the future he talks about the whole country and “good growth in every postcode”.

I genuinely think people just aren’t used to hearing a leader with a Northern accent and therefore can’t imagine a Northerner can know and care just as much about the whole country as a Southerner.

He seems very fixated on 'the north' - but appears to forget he's actually PM of the UK and 'the north' is actually several hundred miles to the north of his north. He doesn't really seem to do much apart from talk about things he wants to do - he doesn't seem like good PM material or have any leadership qualities. Time will tell though. .

Probably distracting everyone else by banging on about buses.
On a serious note, of course not everything is buses. But if you are talking about for example deprivation and areas of severe poverty and unemployment especially youth unemployment then reliable buses and local public transport networks can make the difference between someone getting to their job in the next town and being sacked for repeated lateness. It's the part of grinding annoyance on people that are already struggling to pull themselves out of a difficult place but are having to set of an hour earlier to avoid being five minutes late because they need to change buses and the times don't match up properly etc etc. you can completely.change the future of a housing estate by adding or taking away public transport.
It isn't the only thing that matters,.but it is an example of the sort of easily ignored infrastructures and systems that need to be in place for a local or national economy to thrive or fail. It's less "sexy" than a town being twinned with Las Vegas, or LGBT friendly parades(not saying those are bad per se), but more important. So if him talking about buses is a sign he wants to get.serious about bread and butter issues then that's actually good.

Of course there is also the foreign policy, big picture stuff. But Starmer was criticised for spending too much time on international politics if I recall.

I really don’t know about that. He’s been very firm in his defence of Ukraine and - in terms of rhetoric at least - he’s so far been stronger in standing up Netanyahu than his predecessors. As for Trump, he’s obviously hard to predict, but one thing we know about him is that he likes popularity - you only need to look at his obvious respect for Mamdani to see that - and all the polling is clear that right now, Andy Burnham is the most popular political leader in the U.K.

Obviously he's in Ukraine talking about buses and Northern England.

Or it could be that you are reading the wrong social media.

The biggest challenge facing us is the financial as we are borrowing too much at an accelerating rate and Labour’s plan was to tackle it by growing the economy. This hasn’t happened as they’ve also raised employer costs.

The rich are leaving in droves because of changes to the worldwide taxing regime (under conversatives but getting worse) and IHT, as they’re hyper mobile. These people take their investment with them so we are overall poorer.

What can Burnham do?
He has two choices:

• Tackle the welfare bill including the pensions triple lock
• Raise individual taxes across the board.

Realistically both will see Labour out of power. It’s no wonder Burnham is talking about the buses.

I agree he’s at risk of alienating the majority of the country who don’t live in “the North”. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the South West don’t get a look in, and he only talks about the South East to disrespect them.

He just gives the vibe that he is the mayor of England, not the UK PM. A bit light-and-local. Might improve.

These people take their investment with them so we are overall poorer.

Please can you explain how this works?

Raising taxes will be political suicide. We have a huge tax burden as it is. They also need to control our borders. It has been out of control for years now and as it is starting to affect the better off, well what a surprise, more and more people are saying what the poorest in society have been saying for years. The NIMBY's are out in force now.

I want Burnham to succeed and think he has made good start. Today, he has been forthright in his support for Ukraine and his criticism of Russia. No mention of busses. The risk with his series of small announcements to ease the cost of living is that he appears lightweight. However, his critique of neo-liberalism and his arguments for devolution and state ownership of the infrastructure to support economic growth are coherent and persuasive.

Successful political leaders are the ones who are right for their times. Now, that includes direct communication with the electorate. Once parliament is sitting again, I hope we'll hear more from him on how growth is to be achieved, and what he is going to do about defence spending, the benefits bill, and irregular migration. Throw him to Andrew Neil on live TV then we'd see what he's made of.

Typos

Yes immigration is clearly a challenge across many communities but it won’t change the economics of the situation which is what will see Labour out of government.

If he gives a shit about working class people he will make housing associations accountable

I dont want to like him at all. Im hoping Kemi hounds him to oblivion in PMQ. Assuming he’ll be there in person and not video link.

Growing the economy 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I find he’s just not as present as the last one which is fine by me. It’s a break from Labour to see less.

But he faces challenges like this, and I guess we’ll see if he can ride it out.

What a strange take. Surely, whatever your political affiliation you want the leader of your country to do well and be liked whilst they’re in office and representing your country on the world stage?

I genuinely can’t think of a single Prime Minister I haven’t wanted to be liked (until an election at least) because well liked leaders are the only ones who are actually able to get anything done, and the whole country faces instability and inertia without that - just look at where a succession of unpopular leaders has got us.