Burnham Promises 'Stronger Public Control' in Commons Debut
In a three-and-a-half-hour first statement as PM, Mr Burnham blamed “a series of wrong turns” since the 1980s for centralising power and privatising the economy — calling the water industry “a leaking monument to that approach” — and promised plans for “stronger public control” of water and energy this year, plus a devolution offer to every part of England, starting with Cornwall. Kemi Badenoch retorted that he offered “more government control, more taxes and more politicians” and that his “theory of growth is completely wrong”.
The debut delivered the ideological clarity the summer’s announcements only implied: Mr Burnham is running against forty years of consensus, Brexit included — which he blamed for “compounding the damage” in language no recent Labour leader has risked — and offering public control as growth strategy rather than rescue. “Stronger public control” short of nationalisation is the phrase to watch; it must eventually mean something specific about Thames Water and the energy retailers. The Cornwall gambit is shrewd politics, extending devolution without demanding mayors, explicitly against a “two-tier England”. Ms Badenoch’s reply previewed the next election’s argument in a single line. Watch the water and energy plans “later in the year” — the statement wrote a cheque the autumn must cash.