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  "description": "Andy Burnham’s economic agenda would test whether devolution, public-service reform and disciplined borrowing can revive UK growth without alarming voters or markets.",
  "path": "/2026/07/11/how-andy-burnham-may-try-to-give-the-uk-economy-a-boost-in-his-10-year-plan/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-11T00:10:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.europeans.today",
  "tags": [
    "cost-of-living crisis",
    "often argued",
    "Jim O’Neill",
    "long argued",
    "£49 billion",
    "social care system",
    "proposed",
    "dramatically ease",
    "recently embraced",
    "Thames Water",
    "valued at £10 billion",
    "held back by lack of water",
    "in the UK since 1992",
    "fiscal rules",
    "considerable leeway",
    "taking advice",
    "Burnham’s gamble could rescue Labour, or deepen Britain’s crisis",
    "Who are the main contenders to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister?",
    "What is Andy Burnham’s economic and political blueprint for Britain?",
    "Andy Burnham says he’d hand more power to local governments if he becomes UK prime minister",
    "‘Walking a tightrope’: Burnham’s borrowing plans clash with fiscal realities",
    "Burnham ally to unveil ambitious plan to reverse decades of privatisation",
    "Andy Burnham distanced himself from UK Prime Minister Starmer, but may be stuck with his policies",
    "Burnham’s funding gap: what state are UK finances in for the PM-in-waiting?"
  ],
  "textContent": "🔍 WHY THIS STORY MATTERS\nAndy Burnham’s economic approach could reshape UK regional power, household costs, public services and market confidence, with direct consequences for growth, taxation and living standards.\n\n* * *\n\nKEY TAKEAWAYS...\n\n● Burnham’s economic pitch centres on devolving more spending power to English metro regions.\n● Social care reform could ease NHS pressure but revive politically risky arguments over property wealth.\n● Public control of failing utilities may appeal to voters but would carry major fiscal and market risks.\n● His room for manoeuvre depends on balancing investment, tax choices and Labour’s fiscal rules.\n\n* * *\n\nA  ndy Burnham’s long held ambition to be the UK’s prime minister will come with some daunting economic challenges.\n\nProductivity growth is at a virtual standstill, real incomes have stagnated and the cost-of-living crisis has become a permanent fixture for many households. Meanwhile, the government spends around £110 billion a year paying the interest on nearly £3 trillion of debt.\n\nBurnham says he is on a _“10-year mission”_ to transform the country. So what might he do to try to fix the British economy?\n\nOne thing that voters can reasonably expect is a move towards greater devolution of power – especially spending power – to the English metro regions. As mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham often argued that too many economic decisions were made in London, and that this held the rest of the country back.\n\nBurnham believes that allowing other regions to implement their own locally led pro-growth policies could transform Britain’s economic prospects. It’s a view shared by one of his key economic advisers, Jim O’Neill, who has long argued that creating metro growth hubs could substantially boost the UK’s GDP.\n\nThis approach is bound to be controversial. It could mean, for example, taking resources away from the £49 billion Heathrow airport expansion plan to help fund HS2 so it can reach the north.\n\nMore radically, it might require a revamp of the whole system of local government finance, starting with reforming the council tax system, which is still entirely based on property values set in 1991.\n\nThis would mean higher bills for areas where house prices are high, such as London and the south-east. But it could substantially cut payments for those living elsewhere – which could be popular in red wall constituencies where Labour has been losing support.\n\n### Social care\n\nBurnham has also spoken about reforming the UK’s social care system. Social care is not part of the NHS, which means those who need residential care in old age must either sell their house to fund it, or rely on cash-strapped local councils.\n\nFinding a solution to social care has proved too challenging for successive governments. When Burnham was health secretary under Gordon Brown in 2010, he proposed putting a tax on the value of homes after the owner’s death – which critics labelled a _“death tax”_.\n\nNevertheless, he may try something similar as prime minister. Solving the social care conundrum would dramatically ease the financial strain on the NHS.\n\n### Nationalisation\n\nAnother cause that Burnham has recently embraced is tackling the poor performance of the companies that supply households with energy and water.\n\nFirst in line would be Thames Water, which is already facing bankruptcy and a temporary government takeover. A straight-out nationalisation of water would be expensive, with that company alone currently valued at £10 billion.\n\nBut better public utilities could also boost productivity. Housing development in East Anglia is now being held back by lack of water, for example, as no new reservoirs have been built in the UK since 1992. And a water company which didn’t have to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds to shareholders could mean lower household bills.\n\n### Bending, not breaking, the fiscal rules\n\nBurnham has promised to stand by Labour’s commitments not to increase VAT, income tax or national insurance. He has also pledged to stick by Labour’s fiscal rules, including the key stipulation that day-to-day government spending must be covered by tax revenues within three years, so that borrowing can only be for long-term capital investment.\n\nThese rules have been structured in such a way that could still give a Burnham administration considerable leeway to boost spending on public infrastructure.\n\nBurnham could argue that increasing public investment this way would pay for itself by boosting UK productivity.\n\nHe may also want to look at other ways the Treasury could raise money without breaking Labour’s manifesto pledges. There are quite a few options, including higher wealth taxation, or changes to tax relief on pensions and savings.\n\nBurnham is also taking advice from Carys Roberts, the former head of the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank, and a strong advocate of wealth taxes, which may indicate his direction of travel.\n\nAll of these reforms will face fierce political opposition from the Conservatives and the right-wing press, which in the past have been enough to scupper them.\n\nBut if Burnham keeps his Labour party colleagues happy, he need not face an election for three years. And if he manages to improve public services, boost growth and lower the cost-of-living crisis, he may be able to turn round Labour’s prospects.\n\nThe key is the government delivering the benefits of higher taxes to ordinary citizens, both by reducing the cost of living and providing improved services. If Burnham can square this circle, while avoiding the ire of financial markets, he will have pulled off a trick which his predecessor singularly failed to do.\n\n────────── ◌ EUROPEANS TODAY ◌\n\n🔮 WHAT MATTERS NEXT...\n\n**🎯 WHAT TO WATCH NEXT:**\n\n● Whether Andy Burnham names a chancellor who reassures bond markets while leaving room for infrastructure investment.\n● How far any devolution package transfers real spending and tax powers to English regions.\n● Whether social care reform returns to property-based funding, and how Labour MPs respond.\n● Whether public control of water or energy companies is framed as rescue, reform or nationalisation.\n● How voters react if tax rises are proposed without visible improvements in bills or services.\n\n**🎯 MOST LIKELY OUTCOME:**\n\n● Burnham is likely to pursue a devolution-led growth agenda while keeping Labour’s main fiscal commitments, using infrastructure investment and targeted tax changes rather than immediate sweeping nationalisation.\n\n**🎯 WHAT COULD CHANGE THE PICTURE:**\n\n● A rise in borrowing costs, a market backlash or a visible split inside Labour over tax and spending could sharply narrow his room for manoeuvre.\n\n**🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS:**\n\n● Andy Burnham’s economic test is whether a more interventionist state can deliver visible gains before fiscal limits and political opposition overwhelm the agenda.\n\n──────────  SIGN UP NOW  TO RECEIVE TOMORROW’S BRIEFING IN YOUR INBOX.\n\n\n\n\n### **GOING FURTHER**\n\n  * ######  Burnham’s gamble could rescue Labour, or deepen Britain’s crisis | _Europeans TODAY_\n\n  * ######  Who are the main contenders to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister? | _Europeans TODAY_\n\n  * ######  What is Andy Burnham’s economic and political blueprint for Britain? | _The Guardian_\n\n  * ######  Andy Burnham says he’d hand more power to local governments if he becomes UK prime minister | _Associated Press_\n\n  * ######  ‘Walking a tightrope’: Burnham’s borrowing plans clash with fiscal realities | _The Guardian_\n\n  * ######  Burnham ally to unveil ambitious plan to reverse decades of privatisation | _The Guardian_\n\n  * ######  Andy Burnham distanced himself from UK Prime Minister Starmer, but may be stuck with his policies | _Associated Press_\n\n  * ######  Burnham’s funding gap: what state are UK finances in for the PM-in-waiting? | _The Guardian_\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n[ Europeans TODAY ]",
  "title": "How Andy Burnham may try to give the UK economy a boost in his ‘10‑year plan’",
  "updatedAt": "2026-07-11T17:24:30.739Z"
}