Andy Burnham: 'I wouldn't have gone anywhere like a carpetbagger to any old constituency. It matters I have a connection'

“I wouldn’t have just gone anywhere like a carpet bagger, any old constituency”, Burnham said. “It matters to me that I have a connection. I live literally on the edge of this constituency. My kids went to school a few hundred yards down the road. I know people here, I know how they think, how they feel”, he added.

Speaking to Channel 4 News’s Andrew Misra in the Makerfield constituency, Mr Burnham addressed the background to Josh Simons’s decision to step down and clear a path for his candidacy.

“I was very deliberate in speaking to Josh and both of us have got the same diagnosis.”

Pushed for his views on the path forward for his party and the policy challenges facing the country, the Greater Manchester Mayor said he wanted Labour to become “a party that they can believe in again, a party solidly on the side of working class people.”

He called the events of the week “an important, big moment in British politics,” arguing that communities like Makerfield have been failed by decades of deindustrialisation, deregulation and privatisation post “Margaret Thatcher.

"Life here has become unaffordable for people in places like this,” he said, calling for “a different path completely” and “re-industrialisation”, including stronger public control of energy, housing, water and transport.

He pointed to Greater Manchester’s bus franchising model and £2 fares as proof public control can work for ordinary people rather than “private shareholders.”

He said his campaign would focus on listening: “On doorsteps, I'm not going to spend my time point scoring”, adding: “I don't blame anyone who's left our party and voted for other parties.

"Our party needs to do better and it's kind of where I'm coming from in this campaign."

Asked about leadership ambitions, Burnham said the immediate priority was “winning a by-election with what I’m saying” and delivering real change for communities like Makerfield."

Here is the full interview:

Andrew Misra: Busy few days?

Andy Burnham: Yes, but I think it’s an important, big moment in British politics.

AM: Your moment?

AB: No, I think we need to listen to what people are saying here. The call from the gentleman there was that you need to change Labour - get back on the side of working class people and working class communities. I hear exactly what he’s saying. Life here has become unaffordable for people in places like this. Britain has been on a path for forty years that started with industrialisation, deregulation, privatisation. Areas without good jobs and people unable to afford the basics and I’m saying: We need a different path completely.

AM: What is that path?

AB: Well more things back under stronger public control - energy, housing, water, transport. I’ve done that with the buses in Greater Manchester so I was the first to do it. Margaret Thatcher deregulated the whole country.

AM: It’s different though with the whole country isn’t it?

AB: I’m just giving an example - she deregulated things. And then they just work for the private shareholders and not for the paying public. I put them back under public control. We've got £2 fares. So you take that principle and you apply it to energy and you apply it to water. That's what I think we need to do. The country gave away its control of the basic things that people depend upon every day. And that was a big mistake, in my view.

AM: People say you're taking a big gamble here. Do you see it that way?

AB: Well, it's not so much about me, really.

AM: It is though, isn't it?

AB: Well, it’s about what people are saying. I've been in politics 25 years and I've heard this cry about we’re fed up, politics isn't working, Westminster isn't answering things. I've seen this frustration build all of those years and the gap between politicians and the public is as wide as it's ever been. I don't blame anyone who's left our party and voted for other parties. You know, I really don't. Our party needs to do better and it's kind of where I'm coming from in this campaign. I'm going to be really honest about that. On doorsteps, I'm not going to spend my time point scoring. I'll be saying no, I'm hearing you. We're going to really change things and put the country on a different path. We've got to get back talking the language of re industrialisation. Margaret Thatcher de-industrialised these communities in the past. That's been devastating over the four decades since. We've got to talk seriously about re-industrialising the Northwest, getting those good jobs, changing education so it's not all about the university route, but it's also about technical paths for kids to get into those good jobs. So this is the kind of change that I'm calling for and I'm not going to spend any time sort of pointing out the flaws in everyone else's policies, point scoring. I'm going to talk about what I believe needs to change.

AM: Were you very deliberate in choosing this seat because it is Reform facing?

AB: I was very deliberate in speaking to Josh and both of us have got the same diagnosis. I was the MP for Lee years ago, Josh the MP for Makerfield. We have both felt the frustration of facing a Westminster system that just does not have answers for these streets, these communities. And you know, we both feel a big change moment is needed. And I wouldn't have just gone anywhere like a carpet bagger, you know, any old constituency. It matters to me that I have a connection. I live literally on the edge of this constituency. My kids went to school a few hundred yards down the road. I know people here, I know how they think, how they feel. I want to do whatever I can to make Labour a party that they can believe in again. A party that's solidly on the side of working class people.

AM: And if you do win the by-election, how soon will your declaration for the leadership

come?

AB: It’s just not the issue. The issue is winning. Winning a by-election with what I'm saying, you know, it's not about, you know, necessarily the next thing. I hope people will say I've made a whole career fighting for people in this part of the world. I fought for compensation for the miners when I was an MP for Lee. I fought for justice for the Hillsborough families. I fought Boris Johnson in the pandemic when he was treating people here in Makerfield as second class citizens. That's what I've done. I've taken that fight to another level as Mayor and yes, I will carry on taking that fight to the highest level. And you know, that's the way I've done my politics and done my journey. So it's first and foremost, though, about this place. Isn't it about time that people focus on here and say, right, why hasn't Westminster changed people's lives here and then start to tell them what we're going to do to make that happen?

AM: Enjoying it?

AB: Yeah, yeah. I love politics and elections and talking to people and yeah, I am. I’ve got me pie.

AM: Enjoy your pie. You'll need that sustenance.