{"id":660311,"date":"2026-06-27T01:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/660311\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T01:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:15:12","slug":"burnham-blueprint-for-national-renewal-andy-burnham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/660311\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham blueprint for national renewal | Andy Burnham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Neal Lawson (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2026\/jun\/19\/makerfield-byelection-victory-keir-starmer-andy-burnham-reform\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This major Makerfield victory has made it inevitable: it\u2019s now time for Keir Starmer to step aside, 19\u00a0June<\/a>) describes Andy Burnham as \u201copen, inquiring and imaginative\u201d, and representative of \u201ca workable alliance for long-term change\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">I\u00a0know this to be true, having seen first-hand how he operates when the cameras are off. As chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk\/greater-manchester\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Greater Manchester<\/a> independent inequalities commission and an adviser to its \u201cprevention demonstrator\u201d, I\u2019ve witnessed him systematically use research and frontline expertise to underpin successful regional policies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">When we delivered our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk\/what-we-do\/equalities\/independent-inequalities-commission\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">inequalities report<\/a>, it wasn\u2019t shelved; Andy used it to pivot the entire city-region towards tackling the wider and interconnected determinants of a thriving population and place. His rare commitment to co-designing policy alongside experts and communities offers a proven, scalable blueprint for national renewal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">But if he becomes our next prime minister, he will need strong support to be able to prioritise social and economic policies that are demonstrably effective and cost-effective but politically challenging. A new national institute for social change, based on the methods underpinning our National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, could underpin better medium- to-long\u2011term policymaking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Being able to quantify the payoff later of investment now in social and environmental infrastructure would help to get around the limitations on bold politics that are imposed by short-term thinking and electoral cycles. A pipeline of independent, objective and rigorous guidance and information could be transformative for improving our politics.<br \/>Kate Pickett<br \/>Professor for the public understanding of social science, University of York<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\"> Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2026\/jun\/26\/mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city\/town\/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.\" data-link-name=\"in body link \" https:=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tone\/letters\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neal Lawson (This major Makerfield victory has made it inevitable: it\u2019s now time for Keir Starmer to step&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-660311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}