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Britain’s incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Friday condemned the economic model established in the 1980s by Margaret Thatcher in his first speech as Labor leader and promised greater public control over essential services, signaling a shift to the left of outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Burnham, who will formally become prime minister on Monday, said Britain “took too many wrong turns in the 1980s” when political power became centralized and economic power transferred to private companies. He was elected unopposed as party leader, having been nominated by 379 Members of Parliament to lead it.
“The country gave up control of essential things like housing, water, energy, transportation, and people faced high costs,” Burnham said, according to a transcript of her comments during a July 17 speech in London.
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He declared that four decades of neoliberal economic policy had been “not kind” to the working class and industrial communities that had traditionally supported Labor and described his rise as the country’s most significant political turning point in 40 years.
“The government I lead will confidently set out that path from next week,” Burnham said. “That’s why today’s change is the most significant moment of change in our politics in 40 years.
Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, said Burnham’s speech gave a clear ideological signal but gave little detail about how his government would implement it. He added, “Burnham has a lot of light and warmth, but not a lot of real substance.” “We’re all still waiting to see what that substance might be.”
Britons are suffering from the ‘winter of discontent’ as a man walks past a pile of rubbish in London. In February 1979 cleaners joined other unions across Britain in strike. (Graham Morris/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Mendoza said, “If he thinks Britain has been on the wrong path for the last 40 years, what is the right path? Is it the previous kind of socialism? Is it some kind of statism? What does he really intend to do?”
Burnham’s speech provided the clearest indication yet that the former Mayor of Greater Manchester intends to move the party away from Starmer’s more cautious economic position and towards greater state ownership, expanded councils and social housing, greater power to regional government and increased state involvement in essential services.
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Burnham said that Labor would no longer attempt to copy right-wing and far-left parties. “We will not try to defeat the Greens or out-reform the Reform.”
Although he did not explicitly advocate returning Britain to the 1970s or mention the late Lady Thatcher by name, free-market critics portrayed his attacks on her reforms as an attempt to revive the state-dominated economic policies of her previous government.
Britain experienced the winter of discontent in 1978–79, when millions of workers took part in widespread strikes over pay that disrupted daily life. Due to the strikes, garbage could not be collected, hospital services were reduced and public transport was affected. The unrest is seen as a major factor in the election of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in 1979 as voters turned against the unions and the Labor government of the time.
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Andy Burnham, who is expected to become Britain’s next Prime Minister on Monday, speaks to supporters after winning a by-election in Ashton in Makerfield, England, on Friday, June 19, 2026. (John Super/AP)
The Adam Smith Institute responded to her speech by publishing a lengthy defense of the Thatcher era, highlighting the waste of days spent cutting income and corporate tax rates, privatisation, increasing homeownership and labor strikes.
“Since you mentioned the 1980s, Andy Burnham, here’s a reminder of what was achieved,” the free-market think tank wrote, before listing economic indicators that improved during the period.
According to the free-market think tank, the top rate of income tax fell from 83% to 40%, the basic rate fell from 33% to 25%, and corporation tax fell from 52% to 35%. It said inflation declined from a peak of 21.9% in 1980 to 2.4% in 1986, while the number of working days lost due to strikes fell from 29.5 million in 1979 to 1.9 million in 1990. The institute also said that home ownership increased from 55% to 67%, the number of individual shareholders increased from 3 million to 11 million, and the national debt fell from 47% of gross. Domestic products up to 28%.
Emma Schubart, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society who previously worked at the Adam Smith Institute, told Fox News Digital that Burnham’s speech demonstrated what she described as a fundamental misunderstanding of taxation and economic incentives.
“The biggest thing is that he appears to be quite financially illiterate,” Schubart said in an interview Friday. He called Burnham’s “demonisation” of Thatcher’s police as “grotesque and unnecessary”.
British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, addresses a press conference at the Conservative Party headquarters in Smith Square, London, June 8, 1987, during the general election campaign. (David Levenson/Getty Images)
Schubart argued that Burnham’s message was internally contradictory because she presented her leadership as one of national renewal while proposing to undo the reforms associated with the 1980s.
“He keeps saying he’s bringing renewal and a new chapter to the UK,” she said. “But then he also says, ‘We’re going to go back to the ’70s.’ You have to choose one.”
Burnham nevertheless insisted that he would be a “pro-business leader”, while he called for greater public control over essential services, new powers for regional governments and closer co-operation with private businesses.
US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer shake hands as they board Air Force One at Prestwick Airport before taking off for north-east Scotland in Prestwick, Scotland, on July 28, 2025. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
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Ideological change presents an immediate political gamble. Burnham will have to unite Labour’s competing factions, reassure financial markets and respond to the growing challenge of Reform UK – all while taking office without winning a national election.
Mendoza warned that Burnham’s efforts to appeal to the left could complicate relations with the Trump administration. “Under Burnham’s approach the government could certainly clash with the United States, because the voters it is trying to bring back into its tent include many who are extremely hostile toward the United States.
He added, “If he adopts US-friendly policies, he risks alienating the voting coalition he is trying to build.” “But if he decides to pick a fight with the United States, he risks damaging British national security and the alliance with the US, which means far more to the country than any electoral alliance.”
Burnham is expected to be sworn in as prime minister by King Charles III on Monday.
