Devolution, ambition, and public control: reflections on Burnham’s first 90 days as PM

This summer, the UK welcomed its seventh prime minister in 10 years.

The first three months of Andy Burnham’s premiership have been characterised by energy and enthusiasm. Given his two previous leadership bids, it’s the energy of a man who perhaps felt his chance at the top job had passed.

Along with this energy has come a blitz of policy announcements and a greater emphasis on communicating with the public. And while we have yet to see much of the detail, clear themes have emerged.

Devolution is centre stage

Regional leaders in England will continue to take on more decision-making responsibilities, a process started by previous governments, but soon to be supercharged.

The government’s plans commit to ‘devolution by default’, with mayors given greater powers over education, skills, transport, and infrastructure. Mayoral authorities will share a portion of income tax for the first time.

The detail is currently lacking, but the direction of travel is clear: a bold and rapid transformation in how England is governed.

Taking back control

Burham has tried to redefine a slogan from the Brexit years to sketch out his vision for the country: one that emphasises more public control of utilities.

At this year’s Labour Party Conference, the prime minister set out his vision for greater control of the water industry. A strengthened Water Bill will remove current limits on public ownership of water companies and give mayors new powers to hold them to account.

The measures build on the “once in a generation” overhaul already promised in January’s Water White Paper. More details should come soon, with a ‘10-year plan for Britain’ promised later this year.

Burnham also announced the creation of the Great British Grid, a new state-owned company operating under the umbrella of Great British Energy. GB Grid will compete with the privately owned National Grid to speed up electricity transmission projects and drive down costs for consumers.

Tackling big issues

In the first few months of the new government, there’s been a marked willingness to engage in longstanding – and often politically sensitive – public policy issues.

On the steps of Downing Street, the prime minister committed to ending rough sleeping, while at the Labour conference he announced plans to end the triple lock on pensions to pay for a new National Care Service.

The prime minister has even announced his intention to reform the voting system, perhaps with the introduction of proportional representation. Could this be a way to foster greater cross-party agreement in infrastructure decision making?

What does this all mean for infrastructure?

Uncertainty remains for the infrastructure sector.

The announcements on devolution should mean greater control for mayors in infrastructure decision making. But at this stage, there are more questions than answers.

Will the Defence Investment Plan be fully funded and how will this affect capital budgets?

Will the new government commit to continuing the 10-year infrastructure strategy and infrastructure pipeline?

We look to face further delays to Heathrow’s third runway. How will the government deal with the knotty problem of airport capacity in the UK?

At a more detailed level, the last government had embarked on a review of the Construction Playbook that now looks to be delayed. We also await the government’s response to the Competition and Market Authority’s civil engineering market study.

Tackling the uncertainty that plagues the sector is crucial, both for unlocking the investment it needs, and for fixing longstanding delivery issues.

The Budget next week will be the first glimpse into how the government will do this, followed by a full spending review next year.

The engineering industry is ready to support the government in its pledge of “good growth in every postcode”. But without speeding up infrastructure delivery across the country, this won’t be possible.

Britain’s new PM must prioritise the decisions that will make this happen.