(Likely) future PM Andy Burnham lays out his vision for the UK – here

Following on from Sir Keir Starmer announcing his plans to resign as Prime Minister last week, all eyes have been on 'King of the North', Andy Burnham – the only MP to have formally confirmed he has his sights set on the top job of Labour leader (and ergo, PM).

While we've all been busy learning more about his wife, Marie-France van Heel, their three children and Burnham's voting record, there hasn't been much to report on by way of how a Burnham-led government could operate in future... until now.

"Westminster hasn't been working for people, and it hasn't been working for a very long time," Burnham said in a speech today (29 June), his first since Starmer shared his plans to step down. "My generation of politicians, including me, must take responsibility – we haven't been good enough. I am going to do things differently, I am going to give Britain the circuit breaker it needs."

Here's a rundown of what Burnham says he hopes to do should he be given the keys to 10 Downing Street in the near future (keeping in mind that Labour ran on – and won – with a specific manifesto in the 2024 general election, which can't just be completely scrapped).

The former Mayor of Greater Manchester has announced his dream of creating a second Prime Minister's office up in Manchester, to widen out the spheres of influence and power in politics. "No 10 North will be the nerve centre of a rewired Britain," he explained, during a speech at the People's History Museum. It sounds like a big operation, with scope to create lots of opportunities for people in the north of the country to work for government.

Or what Burnham calls the "housing trap" – the prospective PM says he will push for the "biggest council house building programme since the post-war period", hoping to level the playing field for more people struggling with the cost of rent or getting a mortgage.

Burnham is keen to give local mayors more power in their areas, with the idea being that they know their own communities better than the central government (who he says often push back against "legitimate requests" from mayors). Burnham states if people were focussed on making things better for their own neighbourhoods, there'd be more cross-party collaboration and less political division as a whole – something he has described as "dangerous" and urged that the focus be on "problem solving and not point scoring".

One of the biggest criticisms levelled at Starmer was that he 'flip-flopped' on ideas (e.g. announcing a policy, seeing the public's response, then slowly fading it out or completely backtracking, rather than sticking to his guns). Burnham subtly nodded to this, by saying his plans are "inclusive [but] not up for negotiation".

Ah yes, the word 'growth' – the bulk of Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves vision for the country, which hasn't really been delivered on (for various reasons). It's still top of the agenda for Andy Burnham too, who says he has a "laser-like focus on growth and regeneration".

However, Burnham says he's hoping to approach growth in a different way, rejecting the 'trickle down economics' model in favour of a localised 'bottom up' approach: "[I want] good growth in every British post code [...] places no longer forgotten or written off like they have in the past."

When competing to win big contacts, Burnham wants "proper social value weighting" taken into account, so that British-based companies have a better shot at winning work rather than overseas businesses.

 Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.

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