Andy Burnham backs public control of key services, blasting ‘damaging deregulation’

Andy Burnham has called for key services to be brought back into public control, blasting the “pretty disastrous policy” of the 1980s and 1990s privatisation-era.

Speaking on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Greater Manchester Mayor hailed the rollout of the Bee Network in the region – which comes after what he described as “40 years of very damaging deregulation.”

Burnham, who was previously served in Cabinet under Gordon Brown, added that he wants to see “life’s essentials” brought back under public control.

“I’m talking about water, energy, electricity, busses, trains,” he said. “They were broken up and sold off, and I think that’s left the country in a really difficult position where people are paying much more for their energy here than elsewhere in in Europe.

“We see the sewage and the rivers and in our in our seas, and here in Greater Manchester, when it comes to busses, routes were cut year after year. Fares went up year after year, the number of passengers went down. That is what happened as a result of selling off life’s essentials.”

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Since returning to power in July, Labour has introduced legislation to renationalise Britain’s railways and set up a publicly-owned Great British Energy.

However, Starmer’s government has declined to nationalise the country’s water companies. A Defra spokesperson previously said: “The government has no intention to nationalise water companies. It would cost tens of billions of pounds and take years to unpick the current ownership model, during which time the sector’s issues would only get worse.”

Burnham added: “Greater Manchester has actually brought through a major change to public services at a time when it has felt like the country has gone backwards. Well, we’ve bucked that trend, and we’ve delivered on time and on budget.”

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