Andy Burnham says he will put essential services back under ‘stronger’ public control
Andy Burnham has said he will set out a “new approach” to put essential services back under “stronger public control”.
In an “ask me anything” session on online forum Reddit on Friday, Burnham, who is expected to be Starmer’s successor, confirmed he will look into placing services back under public control in an attempt to “make them more affordable to people and lower the cost of living”.
Earlier this week, Burnham said he wanted to take essential services out of private hands as part of his plans for wider devolution across the UK, referring to Manchester buses being placed back under public control.
On Reddit, he said: “This is what we have done with buses in Greater Manchester and we want to apply the learning from that process to water, energy, housing and transport in the rest of the country.
“Public control can include a range of measures, from strong regulation to public ownership”.
Water nationalisation
Burnham has also spoken of his desire for “greater public control” over energy and water companies.
He said earlier this month that for Thames Water it’s “what should be done”.
Thames Water creditors had proposed writing off £9.4bn of the utility’s £20bn debt, investing £3.3bn and setting up a £6.5bn debt facility in return for the government waiving roughly £900m in pollution fines over the next four years.
But this rescue package was rejected by the government, as response that would have been welcomed by the electorate who are in favour of seeing water return to national hands.
Burnham said the water industry had not received the “necessary investment” in infrastructure under the privatised model, but the National Audit Office has estimated water companies will need to invest at least £290bn into infrastructure before 2050 to maintain networks and meet population needs.
Some industry figures have argued the public purse is unable to withstand such an amount.
Triple lock promise
While the Makerfield MP is prepared to shake up essential services, he reaffirmed that he will retain the triple lock pension scheme, insisting it is “important that the commitment in the manifesto stands”.
Burnham admitted there is “a lot of debate” over the mechanism which has become increasingly controversial, with working age taxpayers arguing it burdens them and places increasing pressure on the public purse.
The triple lock means the state pension rises every April by either average earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent depending on which is highest.
Burnham said: “I appreciate there’s a lot of debate about this but it is important that the commitment in the manifesto stands.”
He has previously signalled that he would not scrap the triple lock in the run up to the Makerfield by-election.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also joined the Reddit discussion to accuse Burnham of only answering “softball questions”, after he declined taking questions from journalists after his Monday speech.