Andy Burnham is beginning to sound like Keir Starmer with a northern accent

ANALYSIS Andy Burnham is beginning to sound like Keir Starmer with a northern accent Political editor David Maddoxlistens to the prime minister’s speech at COP31 – and wonders what happened to the radical change promised after he replaced Keir Starmer - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in There was something spooky about listening to Andy Burnham deliver his speech at COP31 in Turkiye. Close your eyes and it could have been his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer – just speaking with a northern accent. The well-worn lines of “climate is a national security issue”, “Britain will answer the call” and even, oddly, using that old favourite of the Starmer era – “Britain is back” – it all sounded like he has the same script writer as his predecessor. The “Britain is back” line was particularly jarring given that we have just had two years of a Labour government – admittedly with a different prime minister – saying exactly the same thing. Was it that nobody had noticed, or they just had failed to move the dial? Even when Sir Keir said that line, the Tories had some justification in saying Britain had never gone away, considering the country’s international leadership on the war in Ukraine under both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak. Saying “Britain is back” is a way of trying to suggest you are doing more without actually doing much. And there is some chuntering already in the corridors of Westminster that Mr Burnham is proving to be just the same as his predecessor in terms of policies – just with a greater flair in presenting them. This is partly because Mr Burnham has limited himself by accepting the 2024 manifesto commitments, on tax in particular. But it’s also because his divergence from Sir Keir has largely been on incremental retail policies which do not cost a lot. The reality of this speech was that these were global warming words with some performative announcements which masked the reality of what is going on at home in the UK. While Mr Burnham talks up the climate emergency at COP31, he is allowing drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea and rolling back electric vehicle targets. He has just appointed Dame Madeleine Alessandri as the first UK special representative for climate security but there will be a serious question mark over whether she will be just another talking head with little power to change anything. All of this reeks of the same timidity which bedevilled the Keir Starmer period in office. The same could have been said about the Budget last month where the big decisions were kicked down the road for another day. None of this reflects a prime minister who came into office before the summer promising radical change and saying that Britain “took a wrong turn” 40 years ago, suggesting that the whole edifice of neoliberalism needs to be pulled down and replaced. What we are getting with Burnham instead is watered down incrementalism, a little like his predecessor. It may be that we have to wait for the 10-year plan to be published before Christmas to get a sense of what he really plans to do. But, more likely, it feels like this Labour government plans to keep treading water until the next election at the earliest – and that could still be three years away. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments [Image text:] United Nations Climate Change COP TURKIYE ANTALYA