To think Andy Burnham is doing a decent job so far?

[spiceupyourlives]

I’m really impressed by him working with the tories and Lib Dems on social care. It’s what we’ve needed more of in this country for so long, and a solution to the crisis will only come about if the next party to take charge is also committed to the solution.

Something certainly needs to be done about the interest regime on student loans but sorting out the lottery of social care is much more urgent. The issue for me isn’t so much that people with money have to pay for it as people who don’t have money not getting the care they need because local authorities are so strapped for cash. The profiteering of care providers is also an issue. Privatising care was a dreadful mistake.

There are hundreds of MPs and tens of thousands of civil servants, so they have the resources to do more than one thing at once. Nothing stopping them dealing the student loan interest disgrace at the same time as dealing with the care crisis.

Time to stop letting Reform set the agenda.

Excellent sentence @Visiblyabove25 and I think this was part of Starmer's downfall. Reform are far less relevant than some people think. I wish the RW media agreed!

I’d like to see a percentage calculation of how much is spent on what in this country - what taxes collected are spent on, drilling right down to local authority level. Only then would we have some true understanding of the level of waste going on. And make a judgement as a voter whether we spend more, or less, on vote-worthy issues.

Those figures are available both nationally and for local authorities.

Easily found if you ask Google. Gemini gave me this breakdown in pie charts.

"Other spending" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that pie chart! Shocking that we spend more in debt interest than we do on education. The public sector pensions bill will presumably reduce as those on the very generous DB schemes age out. They haven't been as generous for about 20 years.

They’re a drop in the ocean. The debt is the result of Covid and the Truss budget.

Well, I think the rattling will reach an entirely new level, at any Reform/Restore pact.

😁

I was actually going to say earlier that Reform/ Restore are clearly rattled. They can see Andy Burnham uniting the progressive left, the centre left and the centre. Hence this pact.

(although I think it’s also a fairly transparent and cynical attempt to wrestle back some media attention, so I’m loathe to give it much oxygen)

This “pact” is only a rumour. I don’t think anyone is taking it seriously enough to be rattled.

And it would probably lose as many as it gains, given that Lowe is certifiable.

Even if it did happen and the pact lasted until 2029, the Manchester and Makerfield results show that even combining the "Re" voting base wouldn't necessarily be a win for the far right over the left. Then there is the fact that some Reform supporters wouldn't stomach voting for Restore and vice versa. ☺️

Yes. Also, many of the Lowe-lunatics lovers think Farage is an Islam-supporting traitor. So that is another problem for a far right shack up.

This pact is beginning to look like a good idea! Imagine all the infighting.

Rats in a sack.

Lowe has some strong conditions that if Farage accepts, any attempt to pretend to be mainstream will be out of the window. I think Farage knows his success depends on convincing more 'ordinary people' rather than hoovering up the dirt of the far right.

I agree with this - I think Farage’s response will indicate where his ambitions actually lie. If he’s serious about wanting to one day be Prime Minister, then I don’t think he could or would ever countenance joining forces with Restore. If what he actually wants is to continue to make a massive amount of money by fuelling division, then he might.

I know where my money is. Too much work involved in being PM. Of course it would all be moot if by some miracle he lost on the 13th.

I thought there was a good chance he would lose but DH read me some stats last night that seems to say the opposite. Crazy that the people of Clacton would vote him in again even having seen how useless he is.

And seeing what a crook he is. I guess they’ll get what they deserve.

What I would like to know from people who are Andy Burnham supporters is this. As mayor of Manchester his job essentially was to spend a pot of money. He is a gifted administrator and communicator and he was very good at this job. As PM so far he seems to be missing the part of the job which requires him to generate the pot of money. He's told us that he wants to go back to a pre-Thatcherite socialist Britain but he hasn't explained how this will create wealth and increase the standard of living for working people (obviously it will be nice for people who live on benefits in social housing).

I guess we’ll have to wait for the ten year plan for the detail. Getting young people off benefits and learning trades is a good start. It’ll be essential if the promised house building programme is going to happen.

Obviously, no one will know the details of Andy Burnham and the Chancellor’s plans for the economy until the budget in October but if you are genuinely interested in Andy Burnham’s thoughts on “generating the pot of money”, you should read his and Steve Rotherham’s book: Head North.

In very brief, Andy Burnham believes in economic decentralisation, allowing local leaders to generate and keep more wealth within their regions, thereby driving growth in parts of the country where the economy has stagnated. Andy Burnham knows in principle that works, because it has worked so well in Manchester, where - contrary to your somewhat patronising idea that the Mayor of an enormous city region “just dished out pots of money” - he generated enormous private investment to the city, and built Manchester’s reputation as a good place to do business.

Investing in skills, in the green economy, and in creative media and digital industries are all things he’s spoken about too. And I think it’s well known he leans towards taxing wealth and assets over taxing wages.

You might disagree with Andy Burnham’s ideas on how to create wealth and increase the standard of living for ordinary people but to say he hasn’t got any, or even that he hasn’t spoken about them, simply isn’t true.

Thanks, this is a really helpful post.