In his first week as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has rejected the slow fatalism that marked Keir Starmer’s early tenure, instead insisting that help is on the way. From cost-of-living support to a pledge to end rough sleeping and a commitment to fix social care, Burnham’s message is that change is not only desirable but achievable.
Burnham has directly challenged the premise that certain problems are inevitable in an unequal capitalist society. In his first email to Labour members as PM, he stated about rough sleeping: “This is something a government can fix if it chooses to, and today, on day one, I’m choosing to.” This marks a departure from Starmer’s approach, which often appeared to accept social and economic crises as unavoidable.
The new Prime Minister’s agenda has already faced pushback. The Daily Mail accused him of backing a “death tax” over social care reforms not yet announced, while Conservative shadow chancellor Mel Stride claimed Burnham wants “to go back to the 1970s.” Such criticisms feed into public cynicism, which has grown through years of expenses scandals and broken promises.
Burnham’s opponents have questioned how he will pay for his plans, yet similar scrutiny is rarely applied to Conservative spending. As Frances Ryan notes, it was not socialists who wasted billions on Brexit, Covid PPE contracts, and austerity. Short-term social spending can also yield long-term savings: ending rough sleeping would cost £9.9bn over a decade but save £26.4bn by reducing pressures on the NHS and criminal justice system.
Whether Burnham’s words will translate into action remains to be seen. But by admitting that poverty and homelessness are political choices—not inevitabilities—he has opened a window that may be hard to close. Voters may now start demanding that wealth and power be redistributed to fix these problems.
