Tag: UK politics

Burnham Housing Plan Begins… As Tradition Demands, With a Speech About How Big the Housing Plan Is Prat.uk Political Desk British housing policy has a well-worn four-stage lifecycle: announce the largest building programme since the war, unveil an artist’s impression, blame the planning system, and quietly revise the target after lunch. The Burnham housing plan appears determined to honour this tradition in full, beginning not with bricks, mortar or planning…

Burnham London Homeowners Tax Plan… Turns Boiler Repairs Into an Oligarch Problem Prat.uk Political Desk Somewhere in outer London, a retired bus driver who bought a modest terrace in 1986 is about to discover that four decades of inflation and a nearby Pret a Manger have quietly reclassified him as asset-rich. The Burnham London homeowners tax plan, built around council-tax reform and higher charges on expensive properties, promises to correct…

Burnham Nationalise Bricks Plan… Promises Homes as Soon as Britain Reinvents the Brick Prat.uk Political Desk Faith in the state’s ability to build things quickly, cheaply and on schedule is a renewable British resource, replenished every few years despite considerable evidence to the contrary. The latest expression of that faith arrives in the form of what insiders are already calling the Burnham nationalise bricks approach: a plan to accelerate housebuilding…

Burnham London Transport Fix Arrives… via the Revolutionary Technology of Yellow Paint Prat.uk Political Desk London already has an Underground, an Overground, buses, trams, riverboats, cable cars, black cabs and a small army of cyclists who consider red lights optional. Into this crowded field steps the Burnham London transport plan, built around the runaway success of Manchester’s Bee Network — a system whose central innovation was, by most honest accounts,…

Burnham Manchesterism Economic Plan… Blends Public Ownership With Private Money, Quietly Prat.uk Political Desk Every political era eventually invents its own “-ism,” and Andy Burnham’s contribution is Manchesterism, an economic philosophy so carefully balanced between public control and private investment that it appears designed for exactly one purpose: making sure neither side notices what the other is doing. The Burnham Manchesterism plan promises socialism with investor confidence, capitalism with municipal…

Burnham Rebalance Britain The Prime Minister Standing in the Middle, Holding Both Ends Prat.uk Political Desk Fourteen policies in, one image keeps returning: Andy Burnham, arms outstretched, one hand gripping Manchester and the other reaching for London, insisting the country has finally found its balance. The full Burnham rebalance Britain programme — devolved mayoral powers, cheaper transport ambitions, a sprawling housing plan, higher taxes on expensive property, and a philosophy…

Burnham End London-Centric Politics Pledge Delivered… Naturally, From a Lectern in London Prat.uk Political Desk There is a particular kind of political poetry in a Prime Minister standing behind a lectern in central London, television cameras trained on him from a studio overlooking the Thames, announcing his determination to finally end London-centric politics. The Burnham end London-centric politics pledge arrives with exactly that structure: the message is regional, the venue…

Burnham Devolution Plan… Returns Power to Local Communities, Starting With His Own Prat.uk Political Desk Devolution has always been Andy Burnham’s signature cause, built on the principle that decisions should be made closer to the people they affect. The Burnham devolution plan now puts that principle into national practice, with one small refinement observers have been quick to notice: the communities receiving power first tend to be the ones that…

Burnham Tax London Plan… Fights Dependence on London by Taking More of Its Money Prat.uk Political Desk Weaning a national economy off its capital city is a genuinely difficult problem, and the Burnham tax London plan approaches it with a solution so elegant in its circularity it deserves its own diagram: reduce London’s economic dominance by extracting considerably more revenue from it. It is, in effect, financial independence achieved by…

Burnham Khan Mayoral Alliance Forms Britain’s Most Expensive Support Group Prat.uk Political Desk Two men who built entire careers demanding more power for mayors have now found themselves in a position to grant it to each other, and the resulting Burnham Khan mayoral alliance may go down as the most expensive support group in British political history — two members, unlimited budget, and a shared conviction that every problem is…

No 10 North Will Let Burnham Be in Two Places Without Solving Anything in Either Prat.uk Political Desk Britain is about to conduct a fascinating experiment in governmental physics: whether a Prime Minister can occupy two buildings at once and still be found responsible for nothing in particular in either of them. The creation of a No 10 North satellite office in Manchester promises exactly this, offering Andy Burnham the…

Burnham Rebalance Britain… Plan Moves Government Jobs Closer to His House Prat.uk Political Desk Every generation produces a politician who claims to be correcting the centralisation of power, only to relocate that same power somewhere considerably more convenient for their own commute. Andy Burnham’s Burnham rebalance Britain agenda has arrived, and by a remarkable coincidence, the newly rebalanced centre of gravity appears to sit roughly four miles from his front…

Burnham Civil Servants Relocation Plan… Runs on Britain’s Favourite Fuel: Fear Prat.uk Political Desk Every great British institutional change requires a great British incentive, and nothing motivates a civil servant quite like the gentle, unspoken suggestion that refusing to move house might end their career. The Burnham civil servants relocation drive, unveiled as part of the wider push to shift Whitehall northward, promises railcards, waterproof coats and a future in…

Burnham Govern London Remotely Plan… Is Just Years of Judging It From Afar, Now With a Budget Prat.uk Political Desk For years, Andy Burnham has assessed London the way a man assesses a restaurant he has never entered: confidently, loudly, and entirely from the outside. Reports that the new Prime Minister intends to remain rooted in Greater Manchester while governing the capital suggest this arrangement isn’t ending — it’s simply…