The media say Andy Burnham will give a major policy speech today in which he will announce plans for No10 North ((BBC News, Politics-Sean Sedona; 29 June 2026). Three party spokesman have already responded. Two in negative tones and one with scepticism. Repeating the detail of their doubt and criticism is tedious. Just recall the domestic policy failures since 2010:
- Unaffordable house prices
- Road congestion which grows
- dislike of land use change
- dislike of new homes design
- no infrastructure plan
- Hs2 policy failure
- the exorbitant Uk cost of new road and rail infrastructure
- distrust of the planning system and planners
- distrust of politicians
- distrust of the media
and I could go on, eg education policy failure for young whites and NHS funding failure. Without saying anymore about international policy and its impact on the cost of energy!
These failures are not ideological. There are all linked to the Bank of Time omissions, phoney political divides and media fed populist frenzies. For example we cannot deliver popular change without realistic time scales and we cannot find answers to difficult domestic failures if our media’s primary interest is in their own circulation numbers and click scores. Even the BBC , which is tax funded has lost sight of its role to inform. We need a new BBC, called The Other Point of View.
It will be interesting to see if Andy Burnham can see the big picture through the confusion, find answers which will deliver, reach out to grown up colleagues in other parties and above all communicate his vision of recovery to an I’ll-informed electorate whilst relying on a press that has left the information industry to join the hospitality and entertainment industry.
Ian Campbell
29 June 2026
