Labour must “start setting out the stall”, Andy Burnham tells party leadership

Andy Burnham has argued that the Labour Party urgently needs to start putting forward policies as there is a “moment to be captured” in post-pandemic Britain – and urged the leadership to “start setting out the stall”.

During an in conversation event hosted by The New Statesman this morning, titled ‘What is Labour’s Vision for the UK?’, the Greater Manchester mayor said Labour is in a better position to govern than in 2019.

But Burnham warned that the party has “a lot of work to do”. He recalled his time as a Labour frontbencher attempting to push for social care reform between 2010 and 2015, saying he remembered being told “set it out nearer the election”.

“I just don’t think the world works like that anymore. You know, if the government comes forward and puts an unfair social care policy, which they did a couple of weeks ago, your criticism won’t be heard unless you say and here’s what we would do,” he told the audience this morning.

“I just think that’s how it works now. People say you can’t just criticise – you have to say, I wouldn’t do that but I would do that. And I think the party has to start thinking in that way.”

He said that the party could not set out policies on everything but argued it should on the “big issues”, including social care reform and levelling up, adding: “I’m saying this as wanting to see everyone, Keir and all the shadow cabinet succeed, I think you have to start setting out the stall.”

Burnham argued that post-pandemic Britain represented a “moment to be captured”, but warned: “If you don’t, there’s a lot of people who are waiting to see where they’re going to go and they might go somewhere else, genuinely.

“I don’t think we’ve got any time, really. It is now. We’ve been through a pandemic, people are hurt, people are damaged, communities are really struggling as a result. And everyone needs lifting. They’re waiting for who’s going to lift them.”

“Who’s giving us hope? And I think that’s it – who is giving us hope. I think Labour needs to sort of think it’s got to be us. Just as we rebuilt Britain after the war, we’ve got to rebuild Britain after the pandemic,” he added.

Burnham also reiterated his call for a social care system “on NHS terms” during the in conversation with event. “The Labour Party should stand for that. No other arguments. That is what we should be calling for,” he said.