Andy Burnham has hit back at Sir Tony Blair after the former prime minister published a lengthy essay criticising the Labour government. In his response, the Greater Manchester mayor warned Sir Keir Starmer against repeating what he called the 'mistakes' of the Blair era on devolution and economic policy.
In a 5,700-word essay, Sir Tony accused the government of lacking a 'coherent plan', holding back business, and putting Labour's future at risk. He criticised flagship workers' rights legislation, above-inflation minimum wage rises, net zero targets, and called for welfare cuts and a rethink of the pensions triple lock.
Writing in The Times, Burnham said the problem with 'Blairism' was that it 'sometimes saw the market as always the answer'. He argued that Sir Tony's neoliberal approach 'won't solve problems of voters in Makerfield and beyond' and accused him of 'retro thinking' in calling for deregulation.
Burnham said raising living standards 'must be the defining mission of now', adding that Sir Tony's government had done 'many great things' but failed to 'take us off the direction set by Thatcher'. He pointed to his own 'interventionist and intentional' policies in Greater Manchester, which he said had boosted the economy where 'leaving things to the market' would not have.
The mayor repeated his calls for 'maximum devolution of power' away from Westminster to 'make good growth a reality everywhere'. His comments come as he is widely expected to launch a bid for the Labour leadership if he wins next month's Makerfield by-election.
