Co-operation and collaboration at the heart of Burnham\u2019s economic plan<\/a><\/p>\nThis begins with helping \u201cpeople to live well, building a more preventative state, investing in people\u2019s success rather than paying for failure,\u201d he said, outlining intentions to overhaul the education and housing systems, and plans to address the cost of living crisis. His first act as leader was to launch a national drive to end rough sleeping, backed by an additional \u00a3340m taken from uncommitted budgets in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something a government can fix if it chooses to. Today, I\u2019m choosing to,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His plans are \u201cabout putting the right values, the right standards at the heart of government,\u201d he said, and in doing so, building \u201ca new political model and a new economic model\u201d. Burnham is expected to start announcing his cabinet imminently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, Co-operatives UK CEO Rose Marley, who worked with Burnham at Greater Manchester Combined Authority, appeared on Sky News, BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 5 Live to\u00a0reflect on his leadership style, his belief in sharing power with communities, and why co-operative approaches have helped shape Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n
Burnham\u2019s co-operative experience spans his early work with the Football Taskforce and Supporters Direct (which helps fans set up supporters\u2019 trusts as democratic co-operatives) \u2013 to more recently launching Manchester\u2019s Co-operative Commission during his time as mayor, and his work with Middleton Co-operative Mayoral Development Corporation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOver many years, we\u2019ve been proud to welcome Andy to Co-op Congress, our National Youth Summit and conversations about how co-operation can help tackle some of the UK\u2019s biggest challenges,\u201d apex body Co-operatives UK said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout that time, one idea has remained consistent: that communities should have more power over the places where they live, and that economic success shouldn\u2019t just be measured in pounds. We\u2019re talking about giving people and communities power and control. Andy Burnham talks about good growth in every postcode \u2013 and \u2018good growth\u2019 absolutely speaks to co-operatives and our language.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe now look forward to working with the prime minister, ministers, parliamentarians from all parties and our members across the UK to help make that ambition a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Congratulations have also been shared by the wider co-operative movement in the UK and internationally.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Rochdale in 1844 to Downing Street today\u2026 For the first time in history, a Labour and Co-operative politician leads the country,\u201d said the Co-op Party. \u201cCongratulations to Andy Burnham, Britain\u2019s first Labour and Co-operative prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
James de le Vingne, CEO of the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), also welcomed the appointment. \u201cToday\u2019s speech outside of No.10 (South) included a promise to reorganise our economy \u2013 rebuilding industry, spreading power and putting people back at its heart \u2013 this is a promise the EOA warmly welcomes, and is ready to support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attilio Dadda, president of Italy\u2019s Legacoop, called the appointment \u201ca historic moment\u201d, while\u00a0Osamu Nakanu (vice executive director, Japan Workers\u2019 Co-operative Union (JWCU), who met with Andy Burnham and Rose Marley during Japan\u2019s Kansai Expo in June 2025 to share co-operative practices, also congratulated the new prime minister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really an epoch-making event, not just for the co-operative movement and politics in the UK, but for the global co-operative movements including Japan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham made history today (20 July) by becoming the UK\u2019s first Labour and Co-operative prime minister. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19306,120968,233050,59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-701803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-andy-burnham","tag-co-operatives-uk","tag-employee-ownership-association","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\/701803","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=701803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}