Polanski warns Burnham is kicking the can down the road

On Monday 29 June, Andy Burnham finally gave us a fleshed out idea of what he has planned for the country. The answer – essentially – was more of the same. And while he is proposing a few actual changes, they won’t scratch the surface of the massive problems facing us.

One person to recognise this was Zack Polanski, who said the following:

The can doesn’t need to kicked down the road, again. People have had enough of tinkering around the edges.

Bold changes now. We are in crisis.

Rent controls, wealth taxes, public ownership of what is ours.

Real change. pic.twitter.com/RITURnyvU8

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) June 29, 2026

Another 10 years

As Polanski notes, Burnham is already mimicking what Starmer said; he’s just sounding more human when he says it. Starmer’s mixture of doom-and-gloom politics with his total lack of charisma made him an unpopular politician from the jump, so Burnham’s likeability isn’t nothing. It’s just not enough.

We don’t have ten years, and you don’t need ten years. https://t.co/taXQhf3Ho2

— Marl Karx (@BareLeft) June 29, 2026

Political commentator Devutopia went through Burnham’s speech and managed to identify all the times he directly aped his predecessors.

1/ Burnham gave his big economy speech today. No questions allowed from the press afterwards.
I’ve been reading the quotes. Something kept nagging at me.
I’ve heard all of this before. Word for word. From most PMs we’ve had for the last 15 years.
A thread
(pic: The Economist) pic.twitter.com/L3V8QEUDp7

— Devutopia (@D_Raval) June 29, 2026

This included:

Devolution

Burnham today: “the biggest transfer of power out of Whitehall in modern times.”

Cameron, 2010: “the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street.”

Starmer, 2026: “the biggest devolution drive in a generation.”

Housing

Burnham today: “the biggest council housebuilding programme since the post-war era.”

Johnson: pledged 300,000 homes a year.

Starmer: pledged 1.5 million homes by 2030.We have a housing crisis that has got worse through every single one of those promises.

Jobs and young people

Burnham today: “giving every young person a clear path into a reindustrialised Britain.”

Cameron: expanded apprenticeships as the route for young people into work.

Johnson: Kickstart scheme. Skills. Levelling up.

Starmer: “no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain.”

Nationwide growth

Burnham today: “good growth in every postcode.”

Johnson, 2021: “raise living standards, spread opportunity across the whole UK.”

Starmer, 2023: “good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country.”

Cameron: rebalancing the economy beyond London and the South East.

So what actually differentiates Burnham?

As our own Ed Sykes reported, the future PM promised two things which set him apart from Starmer:

• No 10 North (a Northern branch of 10 Downing Street which will exist to show the government’s commitment to devolution).
• A promise to build more council houses than any time since the post-war period (could be good, but bear in mind we’ve barely built any in the intervening years, so he could get away with doing very little).

Will any of this be enough to turn yesterday’s empty words into tomorrow’s solid future?

The Greens certainly don’t think so.

Burnham Bounce is real – but then what?

The ‘Burnham Bounce‘ definitely seems to be a thing, but it’s hard to imagine it persisting unless Burnham can show actual change. Accordingly, the Greens are eyeing up the same long-term strategy as they were under Starmer:

@ZackPolanski: “We are the home of progressive politics”

Replace Labour.

Stop Nigel Farage becoming PM.

Join the Green Party today, for real hope and real change: https://t.co/MtUTsPTrvi pic.twitter.com/gudG2XTVPW

— Bradford Green Party (@bradfordgreens) June 30, 2026

The Greens also highlighted that Burnham made no mention of the climate crisis, despite the record-breaking heatwave we just suffered through:

Andy Burnham’s speech made no mention of the #ClimateCrisis, included no commitment to public ownership of water and said nothing about the urgent need to properly tax the super-rich.

Will this just be a Labour rebranding exercise?

For the real deal: https://t.co/MtUTsPTrvi pic.twitter.com/cZejGgGsZD

— Bradford Green Party (@bradfordgreens) June 29, 2026

Burnham also failed to propose wealth taxes, despite having hinted at wanting to do so in recent weeks:

Burnham must Tax Wealth.

Localism requires economic power for our villages, towns and cities. https://t.co/dTd7NNtyZk

— Manchester Green Party (@McrGreenParty) June 29, 2026

The more things change

We’ve been saying for months now that Burnham is likely to be continuity Starmerism. When everyone gets a measure of Burnham, remember it was people like us, Zack Polanski, and Devutopia who warned you this was all smoke and mirrors.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore