Andy Burnham has successfully changed the mood music of our politics to inject a soupçon of confidence and even optimism, but there are various potential stumbling-blocks which could dent if not destroy his and our hopes.
Top of the list in my view is:
North Sea Oil
Rumour has it that he is “minded” to authorise more drilling in the North Sea Oil Field. Anything which provides jobs (and the elusive “growth) is always a temptation for Labour politicians (the clue is in the name) but he should resist it - even the device of attaching new drilling to an existing licence.
If sinking islands in the Pacific and melting ice in the Arctic are too far away to convince us that climate change is real and highly dangerous, surely wildfires in our favourite holiday spots in France and Spain, not to mention on our own doorstep, should be sufficient to convince him not to give way to the profit-greedy lobbying of the oil giants.
Devolution to Mayors.
Enhancing the powers (including tax-raising?) of local government is a Liberal principle greatly to be encouraged, but to concentrate those powers to an individual, powerful and possibly charismatic personality is hugely undemocratic. Powerful personalities with the “guts, grit and determination” to sort things out has been the mantra of authoritarian regimes throughout history.. We need our local leaders to be responsible and answerable to locally elected representatives, responsive to local opinion.
That means local councils and councillors - boring I know, but likely to be more effective.
Trident
Mr Burnham has expressed more enthusiasm for Trident than I think is healthy. It is hugely expensive, detracts from military expenditure which would be more useful (boots on the ground for peace-keeping and rescue purposes after natural disasters.) If we must have a nuclear deterrent than something more modest, jointly with the France (or pooled with the EU) and deliverable without US permission would be preferable.
Migrants in Small Boats
Mr Burnham had a ”photo-opportunity” in Dover over the weekend to highlight this issue, so he has already made this mistake. He wishes to show that he takes this “problem” very very seriously. But it isn’t a problem and it isn’t serious. Irregular migration via small boats is a small fraction of an immigration total that is falling rapidly and would almost disappear if there were legal viable routs for the people who want to come here.
Mr Burnham’s visit merely draws attention to what the Right Wing love to use to divide us. They must be delighted. Sir Keir Starmer's gaffe with “island of strangers" should have alerted Burnham to the futility of a “me too” in this delicate area.
Early prisoner Release.
Clearly Mr Burnham has not read my previous post in which it is suggested that Prime Ministers should not try to appear to have a finger in every pie. Early prisoner release is a “lose- lose” situation, the result of years and years of sending too many people to prison, and well before the misguided fourteen years of austerity (to which Labour’s Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling subscribed) failing to provide the buildings to house them.
The current crisis should have been left to the Home Secretary to sort out as best she could and receive the deserved opprobrium.
