Andy Burnham used what was widely understood as his Labour leadership launch speech to argue that the UK needs a different economic model to end “40 years of neoliberalism”.
The Manchester mayor, who is likely to mount a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer if he wins a parliamentary seat in next week’s Makerfield by-election, spoke of “good growth” and identified what he called a “gaping omission” in a recent intervention on Labour's future from Tony Blair: stagnant living standards, deepening inequality and the everyday struggles facing millions of households.
Burnham was right. And he’s right to put greater investment in infrastructure at the heart of his agenda to address the ills he diagnosed. But ambition alone won’t be enough. Whoever becomes the next prime minister will quickly face a test: whether to accept the Treasury orthodoxy that helped create those problems, or challenge it.
