Thames Water, energy, rent: Burnham drums up public control
Andy Burnham will press for an agenda of public control over water companies, the national energy grid and government procurement regulation if he becomes Prime Minister.
Reports on Saturday indicated that the Manchester mayor, who is standing as Labour’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election before a likely bid to become the party’s leader, would push to nationalise various areas of the UK economy.
Burnham is set to push for water firms to come under public control. He told The Guardian that taking over Thames Water was “absolutely an option” for a Burnham government.
Some economists have warned about the possible costs of compensation over a takeover of Thames Water and the burden of letting the embattled water company fall into special administration.
According to The Guardian, Burnham could also widen his nationalisation efforts to more transport networks across the country and parts of the energy sector, including grid operations.
The newspaper was told that Burnham was prepared to introduce a one-year freeze on private rents, a cap on bus fares and reductions to energy bills by stripping net zero levy costs, which would be passed onto general taxation.
In an interview with The Times, he also said he would tighten regulation on government procurement to get companies to hire more Britons.
The commitment to “social value” would also be used to reduce the welfare bill, according to the Labour leader contender.
“I am not squeamish about saying that the plan would be to reduce the welfare bill,” Burnham also said.
“It is not the traditional Westminster way of just crude cuts, short-term cuts that then create a backlash and create more political turbulence. It is actually going to do things that will reduce the benefits bill, moving towards a more preventative state that makes the right investments to support people into work.”
Burnham’s comments appeared to back John Healey, who quit as defence secretary this week over a lack of funding. Healey announced that he would order defence firms to open plants in the UK and hire local workers before he resigned.
Sir Keir Starmer has argued that his government is already delivering welfare reform after it commissioned former health secretary Alan Milburn and disability minister Sir Stephen Timms to propose new benefits policies.
A More in Common and UCL poll showed that Burnham was set to beat Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon in the upcoming by-election.
Burnham is projected to win 45 per cent of the vote while Kenyon would get around 40 per cent.
Kenyon’s defeat would come as Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain party would get eight per cent of the vote share, stripping some of the support from Reform UK.