With the victory of Andy Burnham in the first Greater Manchester mayoral election in May 2017, then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hot-footed it from London to offer his congratulations. In an area controlled by Labour councils for the last half-century, Burnham had been a shoo-in, with a miniscule turnout and little interest in a meaningless process. But as Corbyn rallied supporters on the streets, Burnham was nowhere to be seen. He was later photographed sipping champagne and celebrating in an expensive city centre bar. Though they denied a rift, Burnham was at pains to distance himself from the perceived leftism of the leadership. The pro-austerity concessions already made by Corbyn would not be enough. Burnham – twice a failed leadership candidate in 2010 and 2015 – was staking his claim to restore Labour’s capitalist credentials.
In October 2020, with Corbynism a distant memory and a coronavirus crisis re-escalating, Burnham made national headlines. Cast as the ‘king of the north’ (The Independent), ‘Labour’s hero of the hour’ (The Telegraph) and by himself as leading a northern uprising, he challenged the government on Tier 3 lockdown restrictions and on funds distributed to the north. His stock rose immediately, with newspapers seeking out Mancunians apparently inspired by Burnham’s speeches and photographing bridge banners promising that the power of the north would reemerge once the Tory government had been brought to an end. Graffiti in Piccadilly Gardens protested that the north is ‘not a petri dish.’ A trendy Salford brewery named a new craft beer ‘King of the North’ in Burnham’s honour, while Vogue magazine announced that ‘Suddenly, inexplicably, we all fancy Andy Burnham.’
Graffiti in Piccadilly Gardens protested that the north is ‘not a petri dish.’
The current crisis is characterised by rising child poverty, now affecting a third of all children in the Manchester region, and rising inequalities, with a 93% rise in people claiming unemployment-related benefits between March and August. Burnham demanded an additional £5 million from Westminster to plug a shortfall to ‘support people and businesses through what is going to be a really challenging winter.’ Counterposing Manchester’s struggles to other northern cities including Liverpool, Burnham’s leadership rejected Tier 3 lockdown measures as barriers to a local recovery. In particular, pub and hospitality workers, at the time facing the prospect of the end of furlough funding, would be thrown into uncertainty. Burnham’s supporters also highlighted the collapse of freelance and arts sectors, leaving many gig economy workers in precarious positions. Though the government rejected Burnham’s demands, the disproportionate effects on northern regions is a concern for Johnson’s own MPs, 55 of whom signed a letter calling for an end to northern lockdowns.
That Burnham failed in his efforts has not affected his standing. But in presenting his mayorship as standing for northern, proletarian grit (despite being a Cambridge graduate), the press, Twitterati and liberals cover up and obfuscate Burnham’s real record as an enemy of the working class. As reported in January 2020, rough sleeping has risen astronomically in Manchester, before and during Burnham’s reign, despite his campaign promises to end street homelessness by 2020. Under this Labour mayoral team Manchester has seen:
- The closure of homelessness shelters including the ‘hub’ set up by Burnham’s own team and the eviction of the homeless support project the Charter Street Mission from its city centre accommodation.
- An expansion of privately-run, cramped and dirty hostel and B&B accommodation, under the guise of a ‘bed every night’ campaign.
- Imposition of Public Space Protection Orders to push homeless people out of city centres.
- Police attacks on activist squats such as the old Cornerhouse on Oxford Road, forcibly emptied on Labour council orders.
At the same time, the mayor’s Greater Manchester Housing Investment Fund (GMHIF) has handed out lucrative contracts to private developers, building accommodation priced way out of the reach of local residents, and given travel and business privileges to friends of the council. As shown in the 2020 BBC series Manctopia: The billion pound property boom, Burnham appointed Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric property group as chair of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity. In the series Heatley is seen complaining of squatters in buildings he has acquired for ‘regeneration’ and luxury flats, priced at £1 million and more. While the mayor boasts of raising £2 million to tackle homelessness, the rewards given to Capital & Centric dwarf such figures, with a recent £24 million hotel contract one of many in a growing portfolio for a northern elite.
Burnham’s railing against the north-south divide, NHS inequalities and ‘London-centric politics’ conceals both his own parliamentary record and continuing Labour leadership ambitions. As the final Health Secretary of the Brown Labour government, he oversaw the privatisation of London hospitals in 2009 and demanded further cuts. Burnham’s racism has been a constant, blaming migrants for ‘undermining community cohesion’ in 2016 and, as mayor, called for fewer asylum seekers to be sent to Manchester in November 2018. As an MP he joined Labour Friends of Israel, supported bombing Libya in 2011 and Iraq in 2003, consistently voted against having an inquiry into the Iraq war, and called for a harder line on Russia in 2015. As reported in FRFI 278, Burnham publicly blamed the Asian population of Greater Manchester in part for a rise in coronavirus transmissions as Eid celebrations were banned at a day’s notice.
In voicing opposition to the Tory regime in London, Burnham follows in the opportunist footsteps of Manchester’s other Labour politicians, whose words of ‘regret’ or ‘disappointment’ on Westminster funding cuts are followed by voting unanimously for council service closures; or whose promises on homelessness are accompanied by police boots on the streets to remove homeless protest camps; or whose concern for human rights means instigating bans of pro-Palestine protesters. We should expect no serious opposition from bourgeois politicians like Andy Burnham or Labour leader ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer.
Manchester RCG branch
