𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Britain is heading for a “summer of chaos” following the expected coronation of Andy Burnham as Prime Minister, Kemi Badenoch warned. The Conservative leader said the country “is in limbo” and Mr Burnham’s plan to move No10 to the North of England “isn’t going to fix the Government’s inability to get stuff done”. She slammed the lack of a plan or political will within the Labour Party to cut spending. Writing in the Daily Express, Mrs Badenoch warned: “Britain is heading for a summer of chaos.”

Mr Burnham is expected to become Prime Minister on July 20, days after Parliament breaks for the summer. He dodged scrutiny of his plans to “rewire” Britain at a speech in Manchester yesterday (MON) and, unless he orders MPs back to the Commons, will not face a session of Prime Minister’s Questions until September.

Mrs Badenoch wrote: “The man who will be Prime Minister in a couple of weeks wants a three-month summer holiday because he needs the time to work out what he thinks. Giving speeches in Manchester and not taking any questions is simply not good enough. Andy Burnham clearly doesn’t have a plan, beyond telling Britain’s mayors to go and sort it out.”

She added: “Andy Burnham needs to act like a leader, put an end to speculation, name his Cabinet, and come to Parliament and tell the country what he plans to do.”

UK ‘stuck in a rut’

The former mayor set out his 10-year plan to transform Britain by shifting power out of Whitehall, creating a new No 10 North and overseeing the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period. Speaking at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, the Makerfield MP insisted Britain was “stuck in a rut”.

He argued the Westminster system was “broken” and “as a result, the country isn’t where it should be. It is stuck in a rut, and clearly we can’t go on like this,” he said. Mr Burnham promised to set a “new direction” for the UK, with an outpost of 10 Downing Street based in Manchester to drive his plans to transform the state.

He said the No 10 North operation would be the “nerve centre of a rewired Britain”, redistributing power and resources across the UK. In his first major speech since Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation last week, Mr Burnham, dressed in a dark T-shirt and jacket rather than shirt and tie, promised to give people hope for the future.

He said: “Let me say this very directly: the days of Whitehall fighting the devolution of power into the regions and nations are over for good.” But he refused to take questions from the two dozen journalists in attendance on the details of his plans.

Nigel Farage accused Mr Burnham of trying to use devolution as the “magic” solution to reverse Britain’s economic malaise.

‘Ask yourself has devolution in London with Mayor Sadiq Khan made London’s streets safer?’

Reform UK’s leader said: “Ask yourself, has devolution in London with Mayor Sadiq Khan made London’s streets safer? No. Has devolution in Wales given them a better NHS or education? No, they are the worst in the country. Has devolution in Scotland cleaned up Scottish politics? Well, I think the recent jailing of one of the former bosses of the SNP would say no.”

In a video message, Mr Farage said handing local Government more power would not stop small boat crossings or reduce national debt. He added: “[Mr Burnham] says it will take 10 years to lift Britain back up to where it needs to be. I would suggest that those of us who believe Britain is broken would say we haven’t got 10 years. What the country wants is immediate action.”

In an attempt to reassure the markets that he would not hike borrowing and taxes to pay for his plans, Mr Burnham promised his measures would be based on “the stability that comes from sound public finances” and “the discipline of our current fiscal rules”. He pledged to give Britain “breathing space” against rising costs “as soon as I can” while not “taking risks with the public finances”.

But Mr Burnham acknowledged that taxpayer-funded support would be needed to deal with the cost-of-living pressures facing households. He said: “Ours is a 10-year mission to raise people’s living standards. I know people can’t wait forever for change. I heard on doorsteps in Makerfield how people need a bit extra now to help with rising costs. I will do my very best to deliver it whilst not taking risks with the public finances, and will seek to give Britain some breathing space as soon as I can. People need to be able to look forward to a night out or a holiday with the kids. People need hope.”

While promising to support reindustrialisation across the UK’s regions, he said Whitehall would be ordered to back British firms bidding for public contracts – even if this cost taxpayers more. He added: “For too long, UK public procurement policy has been based on chasing cut-price deals around the world rather than helping our own British-based suppliers become more stable and competitive.”

With Mr Burnham under pressure to seek his own mandate at a General Election, he insisted his plans were consistent with the manifesto Labour campaigned on in 2024, despite being “the biggest change in our lifetimes to the way the country is run”. He gave his speech to an audience of around 100 supporters, the front row taken up by regional mayors, including Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, Oliver Coppard from South Yorkshire, Richard Parker, from the West Midlands and Tracy Brabin, from West Yorkshire.

In Westminster, Mr Burnham said he would reach out to other parties to create a “greater sense of unity” in place of the “fragmented, disjointed” political environment he had found on his return to Parliament 10 years after first becoming an MP.