Burnham promises to bring ‘substantial change’ as he gives first Commons address as prime minister – UK politics live | Politics
Burnham says country needs ‘substantial change’, and he will deliver it
Burnham says his approach to the prisoner early release scheme is an example of doing politics differently.
This is politics done differently, problem-solving, over point-scoring. It is what the country needs. It is what the public want more of, and it will characterise my time in office.
He says another example has been starting cross-party talks on social care. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, and Stuart Andrew, who was shadow health secretary until yesterday, participated, he says.
When it comes to the biggest issues facing the country, the economy and the cost of living crisis, people are looking for much more substantial change, as promised in our manifesto, and that is what I will bring.
Britain is not where any of us would wish it to be. Things are not working as they should.
Key events
-
Lib Dems welcome Burnham saying Cornwall won’t need to merge with Devon to get benefits of devolution deal
-
Burnham says government needs mandate for electoral reform, but it could happen in next parliament
-
Burnham says he will focus on farming because he sees it as part of UK’s ‘sovereign production and manufacturing capacity’
-
Burnham says too many young people on benefits – but blames education system for letting them down
-
Burnham confirms he wants political reform, including looking at voting system
-
Burnham says he cut taxes twice in his first week, as he rejects Badenoch’s attack on his economic policies
-
Badenoch says Burnham’s theory of growth ‘completely wrong’
-
Burnham says he will ensure areas in England without mayors can also benefit from devolution deals
-
Burnham claims he has ‘clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong’ with UK
-
Burnham says country needs ‘substantial change’, and he will deliver it
-
Burnham says problems with indefinite IPP sentences have been ‘ignored for too long’
-
Burnham says he will attend Cop31 climate conference in Turkey later this year
-
Britain’s defence ‘starts in Ukraine’, says Burnham
-
Burnham starts statement to MPs with tribute to Starmer, saying he gave Labour a platform ‘and we will use it well’
-
John Swinney announces plans to slash number of NHS boards in Scotland
-
What election experts are saying about Holborn and St Pancras byelection
-
Ed Miliband says government accepts need for ‘step change’ in action to stop expansion of illegal West Bank settlements
-
Farage takes seat in Commons after winning Clacton byelection
-
How Zack Polanski told an interviewer in April he would ‘almost certainly’ stand in any London byelection
-
Is it unusual for a former PM to quit the Commons before a general election?
-
Starmer leaves ‘shameful legacy’, says Your Party
-
Burnham says government has had ‘strong sense of momentum’ since he became PM
-
Starmer says it is ‘right to step down’ given his decision to focus now on international affairs
-
Greens don’t rule out Zack Polanski standing in Holborn and St Pancras byelection
-
Tories describe Starmer’s decision to trigger ‘costly’ byelection as ‘yet another U-turn’ given pledge to stay as backbencher
-
Starmer to quit parliament, triggering byelection in Holborn and St Pancras in north London
-
Badenoch names Alex Burghart as deputy Tory leader
-
Higher public spending alone won’t make UK richer, Darren Jones tells Burnham
-
Long-term UK borrowing costs reach 28-year high
-
Healey says next year’s spending review will set out ‘clear path’ to raise defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035
-
Justice secretary Alex Norris says prisons will still function under plan to turn laundries into cells
-
Small boat crossings during summer months have fallen to seven-year low, Home Office says
-
Burnham to say he wants to unlock ‘positivity’ in first statement to MPs since becoming PM
Stuart Andrew, the Conservative MP for Daventry, asked Burnham to look at solar energy policy. He said there was an application for a huge solar farm on agricultural land in his constituency. But big warehouses do not need to have solar panels on their roofs, he said.
Burnham said that was a good point. He would look into it, he said.
And he said he enjoyed deal with Andrew in the cross-party talks on social care reform.
Lib Dems welcome Burnham saying Cornwall won’t need to merge with Devon to get benefits of devolution deal
Steven Morris
Steven Morris is a Guardian reporter covering the west of England.
There has been cautious optimism from Cornish politicians over Andy Burnham’s announcement that No 10 North will work on a devolution deal for Cornwall. (See 4.05pm.)
Ben Maguire, the Lib Dem MP for North Cornwall, said:
Today’s comments from the PM certainly send promising signals, and seem to be a step in the right direction after months of Cornwall being overlooked on the devolution front.
For the first time, we’re hearing recognition from the very top of government that Cornwall won’t be forced to have a mayor or merged with another authority simply to access the powers and funding we’ve been promised for years.
Leigh Frost, the Lib Dem leader of Cornwall Council, said:
When I met the prime minister here in Cornwall, I made sure he heard our position loud and clear, including our red lines on a forced mayor or a merger with Devon.
It’s encouraging that he’s listened. There’s a lot of detail still to work through, but this feels like a genuine opportunity to get the right deal for Cornwall and I’m glad he has used his first speech in the Commons to set this out.
Burnham says government needs mandate for electoral reform, but it could happen in next parliament
Lisa Smart (Lib Dem) said her party would strongly back Burnham if he brought in changes to the voting system ahead of the next election.
Burnham said, standing as election for mayor of Greater Manchester under the supplementary vote system (where second preferences are taken into account), he was struck by how that changed they behaviour of candidates. They had to look for agreement with opponents, he said.
He went on:
Where I will disagree with [Smart] is in saying that we do that ahead of any general election, because I do believe there needs to be a mandate to make that change.
There are different views in this house, but I believe we will need to get a consensus at the next election.
And if there is that consensus, then a change can be made in the next parliament.
Esther McVey (Con) asked Burnham why Avanti West Coast train staff got a generous pay rise. Was that because Burnham did not want the embarrasment of trains to Manchester running late.
Burnham said, as a north-west MP, McVey should know the “misery” people suffer travelling on the West Coast line. He said this pay deal would deliver a better service.
Andy McDonald (Lab) asked Burnham if he agreed the government needed to end outsourcing.
Burnham said the Labour manifesto committed the government to the largest round of insourcing for a generation. He cited employment support as an example of where this was needed. If this was insourced, and put in the hands of mayors, it would be much more effective, he said.
Burnham says he will focus on farming because he sees it as part of UK’s ‘sovereign production and manufacturing capacity’
In response to a question from Simon Hoare (Con) about farming, Burnham said:
I’m probably not renowned for spending much time on farms. I’m more likely to found in the northern quarter of Manchester.
But I was on a farm in Cornwall in the summer precisely to engage and understand the issues that they are facing, and I heard very clearly the issues that have been presented by this very difficult summer for farmers up and down the country.
And I will focus on farming because, for me, farming and food production is part of the sovereign production and manufacturing capacity of this country that will need to strengthen in years to come.
In response to a question from Labour’s Barry Gardiner about leasehold, Burnham said he was committed to pushing ahead with the commonhold and leashold reform bill.
Burnham says too many young people on benefits – but blames education system for letting them down
Edward Leigh (Con), the father of the Commons (longest-serving member), asked Burnham to work with the opposition on tackling the “bloated welfare bill”.
Burnham replied:
I can’t defend a position where too many people in their 20s are on benefits.
But what I do say is, why is that the case?
And I do not believe we have an education system that is setting all young people up for success. I think there is more we can do to give young people work-related opportunity. At 16, I think there is more support we can provide them with mental health. Those are the approaches I think we can take.
Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, asks if the govenrment will back her amendment to the representation of the people bill banning all donations from people living abroad. Currently it caps them at £100,000.
Burnham does not give that commitment. But he says he is glad parliament is voting on these issues, and he says the Defending Democracy taskforce is considering these matters.
Burnham confirms he wants political reform, including looking at voting system
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, asks if Burnham will back a national commission on political reform.
Burnham says he does want political reform.
He says the Cabinet Office has a Defending Democracy taskforce. He goes on:
I am interested in looking at how we restore trust in politics. I am prepared to look at all of those issues, alongside the voting system.
I believe that this parliament does need to be a circuit breaker for this country. I do not believe we can carry on as we are. We are losing the trust and faith of the public. We need to act together to turn it around, and I look forward to working with him precisely on that theme.
In response to a question from Meg Hillier, chair of Treasury committee, Burnham says he wants to ensure more public land is released so that council and social housing can be built there.
Burnham says he cut taxes twice in his first week, as he rejects Badenoch’s attack on his economic policies
Burnham is responding to Badenoch.
He starts with a joke. Badenoch went to Italy to meet Giorgia Meloni to be told not to do a deal with Reform UK. He could have told her that himself, he says.
On defence, he says the appointment of John Healey as chancellor should be taken as evidence of how serious he is about raising defence spending.
On small boats, he says it is “hard to accept” Badenoch’s claim that the Labour government has had nothing to do with the fall in small boat numbers.
I heard an opposition spokesperson on the radio this morning trying to find any excuse – the weather and all kinds of things – [to explain the fall in small boat arrival numbers]. Can they not just accept that the action that we’re taking is making a progress?
On prisoners, he says he hopes the opposition will work with the government on dealing with the problem of IPP sentences.
On the economy, he says he cut tax twice in his first week. (He is referring to cutting VAT on fuel bills, and business rates for pubs.)
He defends talking about the 1980s.
I have to say to [Badenoch] that is the legacy that we are still struggling to reverse. It’s the reason why people paying such high water bills and the infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes.
Why are energy bills in this country the highest in Europe? Why do members opposite represent constituencies where bus services year after year have been cut and the fares have gone up?
They know the truth of what I’m saying.
He ends saying Badenoch has appointed the author of Liz Truss’s mini-budget [Andrew Griffith] as shadow chancellor.
In another six days, his government will have outlived Truss’s, he says.
Badenoch says Burnham’s theory of growth ‘completely wrong’
Kemi Badenoch is responding to Burnham now.
She starts by saying that, although she has heard him over the summer talking about how to make tea, and his views on pork scratchings, she has not been able to ask him any questions yet.
She says is asking some now, she says.
On defence, she asks if he will commit to raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by the end of this decade.
On small boats, she says the fall in the crossing numbers has nothing to do with Labour. It is a consequence of decisions taken in Europe, she says.
She asks if it is true that Burnham may revive a version of the Rwanda plan.
On the prisoner early release scheme, she says Burnham has” had five different positions on early release in six weeks”. She asks when foreign prisoners will be sent home.
On the economy, she challenges Burnham to rule out future tax rises.
She says Burnham’s theory of growth is “completely wrong”.
[Burnham] thinks that if government spends more money, we will all get richer. That is not how this works. Companies are not leaving our shores because there isn’t enough government.
She also says she has heard rumours Burnham is planning to miss PMQs next week.
Burnham says he will ensure areas in England without mayors can also benefit from devolution deals
Burnham says he has heard concerns about his devolution plans, and fears that areas without a metro or regional mayor won’t have the same advantages as those that do have one. He says he understands the concerns about the potential emergence of a two-tier England”.
He goes on:
I will not ignore [the concerns]. So I have asked No 10 North to begin work with Cornwall council and its six MPs on a devolution deal, with or without an elected mayor.
And I today extend the same offer to all parts of England without devolved power. The first secretary of state will today write to every member of this house setting out how they can engage No 10 North in the service of the places they represent.
I extended the same offer to the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, and the first and deputy first ministers of Northern Ireland when I met them over the summer, as they rightly pointed out, their situations are different, but there is interest in what a local model of devolution could look like in each of the home nations.
Burnham says he wants to give communities more control over services.
The government I lead will be relentless in giving people and places what they were promised 10 years ago, ownership and control, and from that control over their destiny comes change and growth.
And he says he can say this from his experience as mayor of Greater Manchester.
I say this with confidence. I do. Let me explain why. Because it is backed by a decade of personal experience.
Turning around one of the UK’s former industrial heartlands and turning it into the fastest growing city region in the country, bucking the low-growth trend.
Burnham claims he has ‘clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong’ with UK
Burnham says, coming back to the Commons after 10 years, he has “a clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong”.
He goes on:
And let me lay it out clearly.
From the 1980s, this country took a series of wrong turns. Political power was centralised, economic power privatised, the country de-industrialised austerity followed, hollowing out councils and depriving them of the agency to act to reverse any of this.
And then Brexit compounded the damage, ushering in a decade of low growth and stalled regeneration.
Change begins with honesty. I’m not hearing much of it this afternoon. Unless we are blunt about what went wrong, we won’t turn things around.
Far from taking back control, the combination of these policies took control out of the hands of communities up and down Britain.
For 40 years, too many places have been drifting. Too many British high streets tell the story of this decline. People yearn to see them restored to what they once were.
Burnham says country needs ‘substantial change’, and he will deliver it
Burnham says his approach to the prisoner early release scheme is an example of doing politics differently.
This is politics done differently, problem-solving, over point-scoring. It is what the country needs. It is what the public want more of, and it will characterise my time in office.
He says another example has been starting cross-party talks on social care. Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, and Stuart Andrew, who was shadow health secretary until yesterday, participated, he says.
When it comes to the biggest issues facing the country, the economy and the cost of living crisis, people are looking for much more substantial change, as promised in our manifesto, and that is what I will bring.
Britain is not where any of us would wish it to be. Things are not working as they should.
Burnham says problems with indefinite IPP sentences have been ‘ignored for too long’
Burnham confirms that the prisoner early release scheme rules are being changed to stop the killers of PC Andrew Harper being released.
And he says part of this plan will involve tackling the number of prisoners still in jail on indefinite IPP (imprisonment for public protection) sentences. This is an issue the Commons has “has ignored for too long”.
Burnham says he visited Dover in August where the government’s efforts to stop small boat crossings are delivering real results. He says numbers arriving over the summer have halved since last year. (See 9.29am.)
