Fashion Roundtable's Policy Agenda & Why Andy Burnham's Speech Shows Promise To Deliver On Our Ambitions.
Andy Burnham MP (Makerfield, Labour (Co-op) © House of Commons, via Flickr licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
This week, Andy Burnham delivered his first speech, marking his potential transition from Greater Manchester mayor to the UK’s next Prime Minister. The speech was given at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, a small nod to Burnham’s centrepiece proposal focused on ‘Manchesterism’, a place-first rather than party-first politics. If you’ve had a chance to listen to the speech, you’ll no doubt have felt the nods to a number of key thematics, but one that really stuck out was working-class aspiration. Burnham’s ‘Number 10 North’ initiative intends to rebalance power, resources and growth away from Whitehall and towards the regions. So, for this week’s paid subscriber Substack, we highlight Fashion Roundtable’s agenda, the areas which align with Burnham’s proposed policies, and where we’d like to push further for the fashion and textiles sector.
If you haven’t had a chance to watch or listen back to the speech, here’s a little context.
Burnham Argued Politics Is Broken
To kick off his speech, Burnham argued that Westminster politics is broken after a decade of turbulence since Brexit and almost twenty years of stagnant living standards after the 2008 financial crash. As a result, Burnham stated that politicians of his generation, including himself, “haven’t been good enough,” and that excessive centralisation, coupled with a culture of conflict rather than collaboration, have held Britain back. Burnham’s speech offered a new determination to raise living standards for every single person in Britain.
Burnham said:
“I am going to give Britain the circuit-breaker it needs by building a more collaborative politics in Westminster. By taking power out of the centre and putting it in the hands of the people and places who can use it best. And in so doing, creating a new sense of agency, possibility, and hope flowing around the country. We will make politics work for you and the place where you live. I know it can be done, because we have done it here.”