Burnham to Make Public Ownership Central to First Commons Address as PM
Andy Burnham will call for more public control over water, energy and transport in his first appearance in the House of Commons since becoming Prime Minister. Mr Burnham will use his Commons debut on Tuesday, his first appearance at the despatch box in 16 years, to argue that stronger public control over many of the country's services can be an engine for economic growth.
The Prime Minister is expected to set out his belief that essential services have not been run in the public interest, and that they have become neither reliable nor affordable, holding back households and the wider economy. According to reports, Mr Burnham will make public control over important services a priority for the Government over coming months.
A No 10 source said: "Andy is optimistic about our country's future. He has a clear plan for how we turn things round. He is determined we make this the moment we bring back hope."
Tuesday's statement to Parliament will also be a chance for MPs across the House to probe the Prime Minister on the slew of policies he announced over the summer. This includes a run of proposals to help families and businesses deal with rising living costs, such as the cut to VAT on energy bills which comes into force in October, and slashing business rates for pubs and clubs.
Mr Burnham is expected to face a two-hour grilling from MPs when he stands up in the Commons on Tuesday, and he will undergo further scrutiny in the chamber on Wednesday when he faces off against Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch for his first Prime Minister's Questions. Mrs Badenoch on Bank Holiday Monday reshuffled her shadow cabinet, sacking Sir Mel Stride and Dame Priti Patel, ahead of Parliament's return.
As well as a reforged senior opposition team, Mr Burnham faces a host of political challenges as MPs return to Westminster for the autumn. These include whether to bring struggling utilities such as Thames Water under government ownership. The Prime Minister is considering legislation to make it easier to put companies into insolvency proceedings and then take control of them afterwards, according to reports.
Mr Burnham will also face crunch decisions on possible changes to the immigration bill to exempt carers, as well as pressure from MPs to back moves towards electoral reform. A quasi-judicial decision on whether to allow more North Sea drilling is also expected soon, with the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields among the major fossil fuel operations in the North Sea.
On the economy, Chancellor John Healey has vowed defence will be central to his plans at the Treasury. Healey resigned as defence secretary over a dispute about a shortfall in funding, and has not committed to a 2030 deadline for spending 3% of GDP on defence. Mr Burnham is expected to face tough questions about how he will fill a £4.7 billion funding hole in the defence investment plan left by predecessor Sir Keir Starmer.
The justice secretary, Alex Norris, will present the government's plans to cut the number of prisoners eligible for early release. The killers of Pc Andrew Harper will not be eligible for the early release scheme, but the government's plans would have made Alex Bowers and Jessie Cole, convicted of Pc Andrew Harper's manslaughter in 2020, eligible for early release from next year. Mr Burnham initially resisted calls to limit the early release scheme further.
Ministers plan to build hundreds of new prison places with a £110 million investment, deport foreign prisoners, and release inmates serving indefinite sentences under imprisonment for public protection (IPPs).
Nearly 100 MPs have called on Mr Burnham to back a commission on electoral reform, adding to the pressure he faces as he navigates his first weeks in office.