An Agenda Worth Defending

Andy Burnham’s chance to rebuild Britain needs the courage to confront the landlords, bosses and water companies who profit from national decline — and embolden workers to defend his platform.

In politics as in life, second chances don’t come often. Yet Andy Burnham’s appointment as prime minister has given the Labour Party precisely that. After being elected with a massive majority two summers ago, Keir Starmer’s government didn’t deliver the change that millions of people cried out for.

There have been achievements. Workers’ rights have been strengthened, renters have greater security, and NHS waiting lists are down. But these positives have been overshadowed by disastrous choices. The ludicrous handling of the winter fuel allowance and the two-child benefit cap, yet another Peter Mandelson scandal, and the failure to hold Israel to account for its destruction of Gaza are all self-inflicted wounds that, given May’s local election results, looked as though they posed an existential threat to Labour as a party.

But now Starmer has gone, and Britain is about to have its sixth prime minister in ten years. Most people have a sense that the country is locked in a state of permanent political crisis and are exhausted by it. But it isn’t inevitable. The reason our politics is in turmoil is that workers have suffered through years of falling wages, broken public services, and a sense that they are constantly being asked to do more for less. Yet politicians seem far behind in offering real solutions. It’s no wonder this frustration is being channelled into the rise of Reform and the far right.

But with Andy Burnham’s rise, we have the chance to do things differently. For years, he has rightly argued that Britain has been on the wrong path for 40 years and has laid the blame where it belongs: with an economic model that has stolen wealth and power from workers and decimated many communities at the expense of private profit.

Unlike most politicians, Burnham recognises that Britain’s many social problems are the result of running this type of economy and knows that replacing it is the only way to get Britain back on its feet. He understands that you can’t deregulate your way to a better country or assume that wealth just trickles down. Instead, he has pushed for state intervention to tackle inequality, take control of public services, pursue further regional devolution, and reindustrialise the economy — a rare and brave position for a national politician.

Burnham also understands that rebuilding means restoring the value of work itself, and that work should come with dignity, decent pay, and real security. Strengthening collective bargaining and further bolstering employment rights to shift power away from exploitative employers would restore the status of working people while improving living standards by ensuring that those who create the nation’s wealth receive their fair share.

Of course, achieving these aims will be easier said than done. The economic choices taken over decades now mean that the mega-rich are more powerful than they’ve ever been. Slum landlords, gig economy employers, water companies, and the financial elite have profited from national decline. There are no two ways about it — these people benefit from Britain getting worse and will aggressively defend their interests against anyone seeking to make the country healthier and fairer.

Winning that battle won’t be easy. But if Labour wants to survive as a political force and deliver the change that working-class people need, it is a fight that needs to be had. The real test of Burnham in 10 Downing Street will be whether he can translate these principles into policies that raise living standards, rebuild public services, restore trust in politics, and unite working-class communities.

Whether he succeeds will depend on his willingness to confront vested interests rather than accommodate them and on whether he can rebalance economic and political power in favour of working people. I have confidence that he is willing to do the right thing and that millions of workers are willing to stand with him and defend that agenda.

Contributors

Dave Ward is general secretary of the Communication Workers Union. An Agenda Worth Defending