{"id":724536,"date":"2026-08-02T14:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/724536\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T14:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:46:10","slug":"andy-burnham-says-uk-needs-a-written-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/724536\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham says ‘UK needs a written constitution’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said a written constitution could be needed for Britain as a “different approach” is taken to running the country\"SHEFFIELD,<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham has set out devolution plans(Image: WPA Pool, Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Britain may need a written constitution as a “different approach” is taken to governing the country, the Prime Minister has said.<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham<\/a> previously called for a written constitution in his 2024 book Head North: A Rallying Cry For A More Equal Britain, which he co-wrote with Liverpool<\/a> City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram.<\/p>\n

Speaking this week as he unveiled plans for greater devolution, Mr Burnham said the proposals strengthened the argument for a formal constitution because they would fundamentally change Britain.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter<\/p>\n

He said: “In the end, I think it does start to point towards a new constitutional settlement, particularly with what Steve and I were writing about with that commitment to equivalent living standards.<\/p>\n

“I said in the speech I gave in Manchester a couple of weeks ago about good growth in every postcode. It’s not just a soundbite. I actually mean that.<\/p>\n

“We need to have a country where everyone, in the end, can live a comparable life. That should be what we’re working towards.”<\/p>\n

The former Greater Manchester mayor said he believed that approach should form the “cornerstone” of a written constitution.<\/p>\n

He added: “I think there is a case for a new clear set of principles about how this country should be run and things that should be minimum basics in all parts of the country, related to essentials and connectivity.<\/p>\n

“It’s wrong that people are left arguing for things that are just fundamental, and they’re given in other parts of the country, and the lack of a constitution disempowers places in that situation.<\/p>\n

“What’s coming through is we’re starting to say that everywhere will have the right to be a strategic authority, everywhere will have the right to retain more of their income tax, business rates.<\/p>\n

“That does start to take you into the realms of a very different approach to running the country.”<\/p>\n

Unlike many countries, the UK does not have a formal written constitution document, but it is understood to have a constitution established through history by common law, statutes and conventions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said a written constitution could be needed for Britain as a “different approach”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19306,59,57,58,50,229,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-724536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-andy-burnham","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724536","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=724536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}