Andy Burnham has been very tight-lipped about policies he would pursue when he moved into Number 10 but we now know more about what his priorities will be – and what it tells about the kind of prime minister he wants to be.
His main announcement on day one in the job – before he had even walked through the doors at Number 10 – was about rough sleeping.
In an email to Labour members, sent shortly after he delivered his speech, he said: ‘We are going to end rough sleeping in this country at the first opportunity.
“People have told me it would take decades. Some say it’s impossible. I’m not having that.”
This, he tells Labour members and supporters, “shows you exactly what kind of government I intend to lead”.
This is an example of his much-vaunted plan to bring “Manchesterism” to the rest of the UK.
As mayor of Greater Manchester he made ending rough sleeping a priority when he was elected to the role in 2017. His hopes of eradicating it by 2020 were dashed, although numbers are still down significantly on what they were 10 years ago.
But it is also about showing Labour members and supporters that when he pledged to be “authentically Labour”, he meant it – he would be standing up for some of the poorest and most vulnerable in society.
The announcement will go over well with Labour’s left wing. In 2023, Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn revealed that he had planned to make a similar announcement on his first day as prime minister.
But it is also likely to be welcomed by all wings of the party – something that can not be said about all of his planned policies.
Later this week, he is expected to change the government’s stance on oil and gas exploitation, with a new energy secretary in place.
Those Labour MPs worried about the Green Party taking their seats will be concerned about this – but a lot more will be worried about whether this could like diluting the government’s commitment to net zero.
There was also a promise to do something about the cost of living, with more detail tomorrow on the “breathing space” he is offering hard pressed families.
Extending Manchester’s £2 bus fare cap would be a tangible step and also different from the Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves £3 cap.
With energy prices rising again, there may be action there.
The former minister Miatta Fahnbulleh has spent the past few weeks working on policy options. She is the former head of the New Economic Foundation think tank and it wants bolder ‘cost of living’ measures – from rent controls to making bus journeys entirely free for under 25s.
The question though is whether Burnham will go beyond announcing specific policies and outline a broader vision.
He indicated in his speech that he would set out how the cost of living measures will be paid for. So will he make the greater argument – which he believes – that taxes on income are too high, taxes on wealth are too low?
Will he expand on his Times interview and pledge to raise tax thresholds at least for basic rate taxpayers, while pushing up capital gains tax?
He has pledged to stick to Rachel Reeves’s “fiscal rules,” which limit debt and borrowing – so it is likely to be “re-prioritisation” of existing spending rather than new money.
But that can still tell its own story about he intends to govern.
More widely, Andy Burnham has not exactly managed expectations.
He has promised nothing less than a new economic model, leaving behind an era of centralisation, privatisation and de-industrialisation.
Just as rough sleeping is meant to signal to party members where he stands, he will soon need to set out symbolic policies which reveal – to voters and the markets alike – what the economic reality will be behind the radical rhetoric.
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