Burnham to pledge greater control of water and energy industries
Andy Burnham will double down on plans to seize greater public control of the water, energy and transport industries tomorrow as he pledges to “break with the flawed thinking of the past 40 years”.
In his first speech to Labour’s conference as Prime Minister, Burnham is expected to say Britain is currently “run for vested interests” and politicians need to take “more control of the basics so that we can make [the country] more functional again”.
He will announce a “raft of policies and commitments that will bring hope again to Britain”, according to a statement released ahead of his speech.
The former Manchester mayor has consistently called for greater public control of the water and energy industries but has not clarified whether that extends to taking companies into public ownership.
He has so far failed to follow through on rumoured plans to place Thames Water into a special administration regime, a form of temporary nationalisation. Thames has been creaking under a £20bn pile of debt and has previously warned it could run out of cash by the end of the year.
The threats have triggered pushback from industry figures and warnings that the cost of the plans would ultimately fall on taxpayers and customers.
Placing Thames Water into an SAR could saddle the taxpayer with a bill of more than £4bn, according to a report from administration firm Teneo.
Burnham’s pledge to take geater control of industry will follow warnings from the Chancellor John Healey on Monday that the money Tony Blair’s New Labour had in the nineties is “simply not there now.”
‘Hope comes from honesty’
The government has faced a worsening economic picture since coming to power in July as the war in Iran and fears over the sustainability of Britain’s finances have pushed up borrowing costs, which touched 19-year highs on Monday.
Echoing his first speech as Prime Minister in July, in which he slammed the “neoliberalism” of politics since the 1980s, Burnham is expected to pledge a break with the “flawed thinking of the last 40 years”.
He is also set to set out plans tomorrow for social care and youth unemployment. Over the weekend, the Prime Minister floated the prospect of additional taxes to pay for the policy.
“Hope comes from honesty and from saying the things politicians usually avoid,” Burnham will say.
Kevin Hollinrake, chairman of the Conservative party, criticised the planned comments from the Prime Minister and said “hope is not a strategy”.
“If Andy Burnham wants to be honest with the British people, he must admit that Labour’s tax rises have crushed businesses, killed jobs and hammered family finances — all so Labour can give more handouts to benefits street,” he said.
“Tomorrow Andy Burnham has the chance to show whether he’s got the backbone to bring the welfare bill down and stand up to his welfare obsessed MPs. Failure to do so will prove he’s just a people pleaser who can’t take decisions in the national interest, and that Labour really are the Welfare Party.”