00:00After 10 years of political turbulence since Brexit and 20 years of falling living standards since the 2008 financial crash,
00:11Westminster hasn't been working for people, and it hasn't been working for a very long time.
00:17In fact, it is broken.
00:20And as a result, the country isn't where it should be.
00:25It is stuck in a rut, and clearly we can't go on like this.
00:29Ours will be a 10-year mission to raise living standards across the land.
00:35Andy Burnham has set out a detailed vision for how he would reshape government if he becomes Prime Minister, focusing
00:41on shifting authority away from central institutions and towards regional leaders.
00:46The plans place strong emphasis on changing how decisions are made across public services and how investment is directed.
00:53It comes as he advances his leadership bid, with scrutiny growing over both the scale of his proposals and how
01:01they would be delivered in practice.
01:02Number 10 North will support the regions on three clear tasks.
01:08Reform of essential utilities, re-industrialisation, and the regeneration of places.
01:16I quite like Andy Burnham.
01:18He's very genial.
01:19He's very personable.
01:20I would be very happy to sit down with him, show him our plans.
01:24They are public.
01:25Share with him the alternative king speech we set out at the beginning of this session that shows how a
01:30lot of this could be achieved.
01:32In the national interest, I would be happy to lend him Conservative votes in Parliament to pass tough legislation that
01:39his backbenchers don't have the stomach for.
01:43No one in this country wants a Prime Minister held over a barrel by a load of left-wing MPs.
01:51If Andy Burnham wants to be the first Labour Prime Minister to leave office with unemployment lower than when he
01:57came in, he needs to get a grip of the party he is already leading.
02:03He needs to put an end to the chaos and the speculation.
02:07Mr Burnham is clearly desperate to be in charge, but Prime Minister is not a ceremonial position.
02:14He doesn't have a plan beyond telling mayors to go and sort it out.
02:19This is not good enough.
02:20There is a country to govern.
02:22Across the UK, the debate is likely to resonate differently in different communities.
02:26But the central question remains how much control should sit in Westminster compared with local and regional government.
02:33And what that would mean for everyday services.
02:35At the heart of the proposals is the creation of a new unit called No. 10 North, based in Manchester.
02:42Which, Burnham says, would help oversee what he describes as the biggest redistribution of power in the country's history.
02:49It would be designed to support what he calls a shift towards growth driven from the bottom up, rather than
02:55directed from the centre.
02:56Alongside this structural change, he has set out ambitions for the largest council house building programme since the post-war
03:03era, aimed at increasing housing supply and addressing long-term shortages.
03:08We will bring about the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen.
03:15It is time for Whitehall to accept that growth cannot be ordered from the top down.
03:21Instead, it can only be nurtured from the bottom up.
03:25It comes from having the power at ground level to make a real difference, from a clear shared vision that
03:33everyone can understand and investors can back.
03:36It comes from running sound finances, as we have done here in Greater Manchester, which in turn gives businesses the
03:45stability and the confidence to invest, increasing their productivity and adoption of new technology.
03:51He has also called for a full rethink of education policy, arguing that the system should place greater emphasis on
03:58technical skills and vocational routes, rather than focusing predominantly on university education.
04:04He has further suggested reforms to welfare and employment support, including more locally delivered services and greater involvement from grassroots
04:13organisations.
04:14He's also referenced the need to support young people with mental health needs as part of broader in-work support
04:20systems.
04:21Linking welfare reform with wider public service changes.
04:26The Conservative leader, Kemi Badnock, has argued that devolution risks shifting responsibility without solving underlying problems, and has criticised what
04:35she sees as a lack of clear alternatives.
04:38Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, has said similar proposals in the past have failed to deliver lasting change, and
04:45has raised questions about whether further reform would be effective without wider economic changes.
04:50Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has warned that competing centres of power could make it harder to address national issues.
04:59Burnham has said he will not confirm any cabinet appointments until the leadership process is complete, but he has already
05:06begun early engagement with civil service officials as part of transition planning, with formal access talks underway.
05:12D
05:12R
05:12R
05:12R
05:12R
Comments