DC Edit | Amid Huge Challenges, Will Burnham Deliver As UK PM?
The sudden rise of Mr Burnham, formerly mayor of Manchester, came with a by-election in Macclesfield that was a must-win for him to get back to London and national politics as his party’s choice of leader. He will also face the task at some point of keeping the rising Reform Party at bay if Labour, one of the top two parties of traditional British politics along with the Tories, is to call general elections though it is just two years since Mr Starmer helped Labour storm parliament at the expense of the Tories and their six pro-Brexit PMs
As Larry the cat welcomed its seventh Prime minister to come through the revolving door at No. 10 Downing Street in just over a decade since the fateful Brexit referendum, the choice of the ninth occupant in the decade of No. 11 in the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr John Healey, emphasises the message that Mr Andy Burnham is determined to not just symbolise the process of change but to bring about real change.
With the promise of it being the “circuit-breaker moment”, the UK PM purged the government of the loyalists of Mr Keir Starmer who may have been the decent sort who meant well but who sank along with the troubles inherited in the economy, in defence matters and in bringing in social change that would address the woes of those who feel the burden of the cost-of-living index the most.
The sudden rise of Mr Burnham, formerly mayor of Manchester, came with a by-election in Macclesfield that was a must-win for him to get back to London and national politics as his party’s choice of leader. He will also face the task at some point of keeping the rising Reform Party at bay if Labour, one of the top two parties of traditional British politics along with the Tories, is to call general elections though it is just two years since Mr Starmer helped Labour storm parliament at the expense of the Tories and their six pro-Brexit PMs.
Long before any thought of polls can be entertained, Mr Burnham, often referred to by his nickname “King of the North”, has to demonstrate he can raise all of Britain from the economic morass that may have come with the subprime scandal market crash of 2008 since when Britain has seen a virtual flat line in economic growth and all the talk now is about the black holes that recent governments may have been unable to do anything about.
Just like anyone in his seat, the new PM must find ways and means to raise the revenues to fund infra growth and defence, and give money to the poorest and tend to homelessness that is growing with economic disparity. On test will be his promise to empower local authorities to spur growth while reversing 1980s Thatcherism and its privatisation of public utilities and services, council housing, water, energy and transportation. Britain, a founding member, must also up its contribution to Nato.
Mr Burnham’s entry to Downing Street should be positive so far as India is concerned. The ties are only likely to grow further from here on, especially in the wake of the UK-India free trade deal (Ceta) that has just kicked in after three years of extensive negotiations that began under the Tories and were completed in Mr Starmer’s time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he signed the deal at Chequers, the country residence of British PMs.
As the British and Indian economies are roughly of the same size now, any rise in bilateral trade can only benefit both the economies. There are no serious issues that India and Britain must navigate, which is remarkable because the relationship with the old colonial master has been steady regardless of who was in Downing Street. In time, India may grow to like Mr Burnham as much as it did anyone in office from the John Major and Tony Blair regime onward while even having one of its own in Indian-origin Rishi Sunak.