Prime Minister Andy Burnham has confirmed his 10-year vision for the country will be unveiled next month, with the plan to be presented to Parliament before it rises for the Christmas recess.
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs), Mr Burnham said the document would include more details on a national care service and would “lay a new path” for the country, “breaking with the failed policies” of the Conservative Party.
PM pressed on Labour MP concerns
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch used PMQs to press the Prime Minister on reported unhappiness from some Labour MPs about his proposals for the next decade. Among the concerns reported by The Guardian were from Andy MacNae, MP for Rossendale and Darwen and leader of the Labour reindustrialization research group, who said plans for reindustrialization may not be realised. Fellow group member Jonathan Hinde, MP for Pendle and Clitheroe, told the newspaper that “pretty drastic action” was needed. It was also reported that the Boston Consulting Group was advising on the strategy.
Mrs Badenoch said: “Is it really true he has so little vision for this country he needs the Boston Consulting Group to write it for him?”
Plan to be presented before recess
The Prime Minister did not deny working with the consulting group, saying: “I did walk up Downing Street promising a 10-year plan for this country because I am determined to give this country the stability that they failed to provide. I am determined to give the leadership that this country needs and I can say to her we will present our plan for Britain to this House before it rises for the Christmas recess.”
Mrs Badenoch derided apparent plans to merge the DVLA and DVSA in the decade-long vision and said: “I'm not surprised he's asked management consultants to help him write his 10-year plan. He needs all the help that he can get. They need consultants to tell them what to think. They need civil servants to tell them what to do. So, we are left with a do-nothing budget, a spending review delayed, a 10-year plan outsourced.”
She added: “Meanwhile, the whole country is in limbo. Labour MPs want to pretend that Keir Starmer simply walked off into the sunset, when in reality this man knifed him in the back and now doesn't know what to do. Isn't it the truth that they're all sat there shaking their heads and wondering whether it was all worth it?”
PM cites record on care and energy
Mr Burnham replied: “I have told her today what I am doing. Whether she was listening or not, people at home will have heard that I am bringing forward a national care service when they ignored social care for years and years. I am acting to get people's energy bills down when they didn't do it. I listen to her when she talks at the despatch box as though they've got everything right.”
He added: “A quarter of a million young people became Neet between 2021 and 2024 when she was in the cabinet. The welfare bill rose by £33 billion in her last year in office when she was in the cabinet. When is she going to come to this House with real proposals to address those things rather than repeating more of the same?”
Mr Burnham concluded: “She will see our plan for Britain next month presented to this House, it will lay a new path for this country, breaking with the failed policies of the party opposite, it will lay a path for this country to go forward.”
