Politics Home Article | Andy Burnham Offers Devolution Deals To All Regions

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Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Burnham said he wanted to avoid a “two-tier England” where some regions benefit from devolution arrangements while others don’t.

Outlining his “decade of personal experience” as Greater Manchester mayor, he said he spent it “turning around one of the UK’s former industrial heartlands and turning it into the fastest-growing city region in the country”.

The PM said he wanted “every single place across our regions and nations to be able to do the same” as Manchester, and said he met the Liberal Democrat leader of Cornwall Council on a recent visit to the south west region.

Burnham said he has asked No 10 North, which he set up shortly after entering office, to begin work with Cornwall Council and its six cross-party MPs on a devolution deal for the region, which could be with or without an elected mayor. 

MPs in the region had expressed concern that Burnham’s focus on the North and ‘Mancheristism’ risked neglecting other parts of the country facing important challenges.

Burnham added that he would extend the same offer to all parts of England currently without devolved power. He said he would also offer further forms of local devolution in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which will be discussed at a special meeting of the National Economic Council next month.

“Britain needs a circuit breaker after a decade of turbulence, negativity, point scoring, and divisive politics,” Burnham said.

“This is what I have outlined today: a clear, coherent, and credible approach to growth that can unlock a feeling of positivity and possibility in every postcode in Britain.

“Our job in here is to make it real by taking a place-first rather than party-first approach. It starts with reasserting basic standards for Britain: that this is a country where no one sleeps rough and no community is blighted by an illegal waste tip. 

“And from there, working together to build a new sense of optimism around the country, we can make this next decade better than the last. We can lift the prospects of all our people and places. We can put more power into every postcode. We can let Britain believe again. We can bring back hope.”

Burnham also highlighted education and training reform as essential to support more young people into work, and said that prioritising more accessible community-based mental health services will be a major part of the government’s response to the forthcoming Alan Milburn report into rising unemployment.

He confirmed that prisoners convicted of manslaughter, death by dangerous driving, or indecent assault will not now see any change to their prison term, and that the government would find additional prison places by deporting more foreign national offenders and ending indefinite IPP sentences.

“I believe the public will support me in recognising the clear difference between those who have served their time and more and those who have not,” he said. 

“We will bring forward legislation soon, but we can find a solution to end this injustice, which balances public safety and basic fairness. And I urge colleagues on all sides of the House to help us do that. This is politics done differently, problem solving over point scoring.”

Burnham told the Commons that the number of asylum-seekers arriving in the UK by crossing the Channel has halved on last year, making this year to date the lowest for crossings since 2021.

He also offered his sympathies to those affected by the floods in Nepal and Tibet, adding that this was “what the climate crisis looks like”. Burnham confirmed that he will attend COP31 in Turkey in November.