00:00Big promises from a new leader can feel distant from everyday life.
00:05But Andy Burnham's plans could affect household bills, housing, transport jobs and local services.
00:11After nearly a decade leading Greater Manchester, he wants to apply his record on buses, devolution and homelessness across the
00:20country
00:20for a programme stretching over 10 years.
00:24The first thing to say, very obviously, is that Andy Burnham is not Keir Starman.
00:28Now, to be fair to Keir Starman, he took over the Labour Party back in the days before Covid.
00:35It seems a long time ago.
00:36But he inherited a party that was in disarray, suffered its worst election defeat since 1935.
00:41But in the space of one term, although, of course, we had a lot of mayhem, of course, Boris Johnson,
00:47Liz Truss and then Rishi Sunak,
00:49he won the loveless landslide on the basis he or the party were not the Conservatives.
00:55But, of course, Keir Starman never connected with the British people.
00:58So, in that sort of sense, of course, the brilliant policies he had, which, of course, were well-meaning.
01:05And, of course, we're going to bring sort of change.
01:07But change wasn't happening fast enough.
01:09But undermined, I think, by the fact that Keir Starman is a wooden performer, doesn't have so charisma.
01:15Now, of course, we get to Andy Burnham.
01:17And, of course, we know the circumstances of which he's taken over.
01:19But only sort of just over a month after having become an MP.
01:24So it's a phenomenal sort of change for sort of Andy Burnham.
01:27Although, remember, a third attempt to become leader.
01:30But he has bags of charisma.
01:32He is a sort of a politician to his fingertips.
01:34So what we're going to sort of get from sort of Burnham is, if you like, a mixture of larger
01:40state with a degree of populism.
01:42He knows the sort of the right buttons to push.
01:44And I don't mean that in a cynical way.
01:46But he knows what's going to work with the public in a way that Keir Starman never really sort of
01:51seemed sure-footed.
01:52Burnham's immediate priority is the cost of living.
01:55From October, VAT on domestic electricity will be removed for the rest of the financial year, saving the average household
02:03around £45.
02:05The cost estimated at £850 million is due to be covered by cancelling the digital identification programme.
02:14Longer term, he wants more council homes, stronger support to help young people into work, greater mental health provision and
02:21more public control over essential services.
02:24He's also promised to shift power and investment away from the centre, giving communities more say over transport skills and
02:31economic development.
02:33For our region, that could mean more control, but also more responsibility for delivery.
02:39Now, of course, I sort of touched upon it in the budget.
02:42That's what people are really interested in, because, of course, people don't feel any better off.
02:46If anything, they feel worse.
02:48Cost of living and all sorts of other sort of issues that have impinged upon people's lives.
02:53Now, of course, as we know, in any sort of election, and of course, we don't expect the sort of
02:57next general election to be until sort of 2029, if the Parliament runs its full sort of five-year term.
03:04So what Burnham will be looking for is quick hits.
03:07Now, of course, we've already seen that with the sort of the VAT off sort of electricity bills.
03:10But, you know, 40-odd quid, given, of course, bills are probably going to rise anyway because of the sort
03:16of the current situation, which seems to be getting worse, not better, in the least, caused by Donald Trump.
03:23So Burnham is beset by a whole set of things going on.
03:27But, of course, he has a very fair win.
03:29I think if he wants to be really radical in terms of wealth distribution, taking money from the very rich
03:35and trying to put it into sort of the hands of working people and the poor, he probably has a
03:40really good sort of ability to do this and mandate from the sort of party insofar as, of course, that
03:45they are fearful of their own seats.
03:47And that's why Burnham is in the position he's in.
03:49So Burnham is going to sort of do, I think, sort of pretty clever things.
03:53And I come back to the fact he's a conscient politician.
03:56He knows how the sort of the public think.
03:58He's authentic, which, of course, is important.
04:01He's seen to be sort of genuine.
04:03He sounds and looks and dresses like the most of us.
04:08And, of course, if anything, of course, we comment on the fact he's wearing a sort of shirt and tie,
04:11which, of course, is what prime ministers do.
04:13But, as I say, it comes from his upbringing, of course, he comes from working class folk in sort of
04:19Liverpool, although he grew up in Manchester.
04:22And, of course, there's a Catholic sort of aspect to this.
04:25Of course, people may not realise this.
04:27So his belief, of course, in sort of spreading sort of wealth about and making people better off.
04:32And, of course, that's what will really come the next election.
04:34If people feel that their sort of their circumstances and particularly those of their prospects of their children are getting
04:40better, they will probably vote for Labour in a way which wouldn't have been conceivable under Keir Starmer only what
04:46sort of just a month ago.
04:47The first test will be whether people notice changes in their bills, housing, transport, jobs and public services.
04:54A wider cost of living programme is expected before the tenure plan later this year.
05:00Until the funding, timetable and legislation are clear, Burnham's promised transformation remains an ambition and its success will depend on
05:09delivery in our part of the world and, indeed, across the country.
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