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Andy Burnham — page 10

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Is Burnham trying to appease Trump? Or Reform? What other reason is there for these North Sea oil plans? | George Monbiot

Climate catastrophe is on our doorstep – yet Labour’s impending approval of further drilling will bring more pain for negligible gains Pinch yourself, it’s happening again. Here is a Labour government spending a vast amount of political capital to earn tiny material gains while risking huge political losses. It occurred repeatedly under Keir Starmer, and now – with the impending decision to approve further gas and oil drilling in the North Sea – it is happening under Andy Burnham. You rack your brains to explain it, but no rational explanation comes. Burnham is studiously cryptic about his reasons. His clearest statement to date goes as follows: “There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that.” Does he mean that oil and gas workers are struggling? If so, this decision will be of little use to them. The Jackdaw gasfield, likely to be approved this week, will generate a grand total of 27 direct full-time jobs . The Rosebank oilfield, whose approval is likely to follow soon, will support 450 UK-based jobs during its lifetime. Yet the UK’s net zero economy directly employs 300,000 people , and a further 400,000 jobs are planned. The rest of the green economy employs more than 600,000 . A just transition for fossil fuel workers, securing jobs in the green economy, is better for everyone. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•George Monbiot10 Sept

‘Fundamentally unfair’: Burnham must overhaul migration reforms, says TUC general secretary

Paul Nowak says changes to immigration rules risk overstretching social care and fuelling far-right sentiment Andy Burnham must overhaul Shabana Mahmood’s migration reforms or risk overstretching social care and fuelling far-right sentiment, the TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, has warned. Speaking ahead of the TUC’s annual congress in Brighton next week, Nowak welcomed the “sense of optimism” around Burnham’s fledgling government, but he urged the PM to act in a series of areas, including migration and the cost of living. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Heather Stewart10 Sept

The Guardian view on UK-EU relations: voters would reward greater ambition | Editorial

The architects of Brexit know it has failed. That presents Andy Burnham with an opportunity to set a bolder new agenda Modesty is not a trait commonly associated with Nigel Farage. Something else must explain the Reform UK leader’s reluctance to talk about what is undoubtedly his biggest achievement. Few individuals can boast of having influenced British politics as drastically as Mr Farage, with his record of campaigning for Brexit before that word was even coined. He will for ever be associated with the demand for emancipation from Brussels, but is rarely heard celebrating its completion. It barely earned a mention in speeches at his party’s annual conference last week. The simple reason is that none of the promises made about the benefits of life outside the EU have been fulfilled. Leaving made the country poorer , and voters know it. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here . Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Editorial9 Sept

The Guardian view on UK-EU relations: voters would reward greater ambition | Editorial

The architects of Brexit know it has failed. That presents Andy Burnham with an opportunity to set a bolder new agenda Modesty is not a trait commonly associated with Nigel Farage. Something else must explain the Reform UK leader’s reluctance to talk about what is undoubtedly his biggest achievement. Few individuals can boast of having influenced British politics as drastically as Mr Farage, with his record of campaigning for Brexit before that word was even coined. He will for ever be associated with the demand for emancipation from Brussels, but is rarely heard celebrating its completion. It barely earned a mention in speeches at his party’s annual conference last week. The simple reason is that none of the promises made about the benefits of life outside the EU have been fulfilled. Leaving made the country poorer , and voters know it. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here . Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Editorial9 Sept

Reform UK says it will ‘fully cooperate’ with Met after inquiry launched into alleged overseas donations – as it happened

Party denies wrongdoing after Scotland Yard confirms it is investigating allegations broadcast by Channel 4 after undercover sting Alex Burghart , the deputy Tory leader, was giving interviews this morning. On Israel, he opened up a new line of attack against the government, accusing it of hypocrisy. This is what he told GB News. At the same time that Labour were saying all these things about Israel in the House of Commons, they put out a communique. They put out an account of a conversation that Andy Burnham has had with the Chinese president, and it said how constructive they wanted to be with China, how they wanted to work with China, and what a great relationship we have. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Andrew Sparrow9 Sept

Burnham sees sanctions against Israeli settlements as an electoral asset

While a survey found Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters to be the strongest backers of such a ban on trade, even Tory and Reform voters were in favour overall UK politics live – latest updates There was a time when placing Israel under strict trade sanctions would have been a politically risky thing for a British prime minister to do. Andy Burnham, however, considers it an electoral asset. As Kemi Badenoch attacked him over defence spending at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Burnham deliberately turned the topic to the trade ban on illegal settlements which he had announced on Tuesday. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Kiran StaceyPolicy editor9 Sept

Polanski calls for report on ecosystem collapse to be published in full

Green leader says ministers must stop ‘hiding the truth’ about threat to UK security from climate and nature crisis Zack Polanski has challenged Andy Burnham’s government to publish an unredacted version of an explosive report by the UK’s spy chiefs that found the collapse of overseas ecosystems would have catastrophic consequences for the UK’s national security. The Green party leader in England said the prime minister should come clean about the scale and impact of the climate and nature crisis and called on the government to publish in full the report that warns the UK faces devastating security consequences. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Matthew Taylor and Pippa Neill9 Sept

Why we’re giving £100,000 apiece to a horse box gallery, high-street drop-in and Midlands museum

Culture is part of how we rebuild communities – these awards by the Freelands foundation recognise organisations promoting creativity and opportunity at grassroots level If politicians are serious about rebuilding our communities, they need to recognise that art and creativity are not the finishing touches. They are part of the foundations. Andy Burnham recently said that culture is too often dismissed as a distraction, a “nice to have”. Yet, as he put it, “it’s about making sense of your own reality”. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Henry Ward9 Sept

Burnham says Britain will ‘continue to act in support of our values’ after UK launches sanctions on Israel – as it happened

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, earlier claimed that the UK was ‘systemically working against the state of Israel’ UK accuses Israeli ‘terrorists’ of ethnic cleansing in West Bank with government backing The Liberal Democrats say they have been granted a Commons urgent question today about t he latest Argentinian threats to the Falkland Islands . A Foreign Office minister will be responding at about 12.30pm. Isaac Herzog , the Israeli president, has said that Britain will be “on the wrong side of history” if it goes ahead with plans to ban trade with the illegal settlements on the West Bank. Later today, we expect to see headlines announcing certain British trade sanctions on Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria. If this happens – and other nations may join – I believe it will prove to be a grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Charlie Moloney (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)8 Sept

Youth clubs, trade unions, pubs: here's how Burnham can fix Britain's social recession | Gordon Brown

From volunteering to the WI, we have lost so many ways to meet our neighbours. Making that easier can only be good for society Prime minister Andy Burnham has hit the ground running, tackling head-on three of the public’s burning concerns: falling standards of living, failing public services and a remote, out-of-touch, over-centralised Whitehall. Now, this autumn, a fourth challenge, reversing the decades-long decline of civic engagement, is about to move centre stage to achieve his ambition to put citizens back in control of their communities. For while there are tens of thousands of local champions bringing towns, cities and villages together, Britain is suffering a civic recession, a hollowing out of the associations, clubs and organisations that once were the beating hearts of our communities. Gordon Brown was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010 The future starts with us: Gordon Brown in conversation On Thursday 10 September, join Hugh Muir and Gordon Brown to discuss the intricate connections between global instability and civic decline, as explored in Brown’s new book, The Future Starts With Us . Book tickets here Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Gordon Brown8 Sept