Chris Mason: Burnham begins to sketch out vision but faces huge and imminent questions
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Image source, EPAByChris MasonPolitical editorPublished7 hours agoAndy Burnham will give what his team has called "his first major leadership speech" later and will promise to "lift Britain back up to where it should be".
In an address at the People's History Museum in Manchester, the new MP for nearby Makerfield will say as prime minister he would "give Britain the circuit breaker it needs". His inner circle describe it as "the foundational text" of his programme for government. It is not thought he will take any questions from reporters afterwards, which will likely raise eyebrows from some given his lack of a mandate from the electorate.
His team insist this won't be part of "a pattern" of avoiding scrutiny - but that will come later in the campaign. Central to his plans is handing more power to politicians beyond Westminster, in what is claimed would be "the biggest transfer of power out of Whitehall in modern times". However, it isn't thought his ideas would be as significant as the setting up of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and the Northern Ireland Assembly, nor the introduction of regional mayors in England.
Instead, it is expected that he will argue that nowhere near enough has been done to empower politicians outside London to do as much as they could. Allies of the former mayor of Greater Manchester say Burnham's time in that job proved to him "how resistant Whitehall can be to devolution", as one put it, and that he wanted that to change.
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