Life for Britons is much harder than it used to be – and Blair has ignored that, says Burnham

Andy Burnham has accused Sir Tony Blair of failing to accept that the lives of millions of Britons are much harder than they used to be as he hit back at the former prime minister’s lengthy criticism of Labour’s direction.

The cost of life crisis was the “gaping hole” in Sir Tony’s argument. The mayor of Greater Manchester has said his city’s recent economic success has been achieved through a “very hands-off” approach that proves “you can’t leave it to the market”.

He also criticized the Blair government for being part of “40 years of neoliberalism” that “has not treated well” many communities.

His rebuke came after Sir Tony urged the party not to move further left, saying it was “playing with fire” when it came to the future of the country, and urged it to occupy the “radical centre” instead.

Mr Burnham is currently fighting a by-election to return to Parliament, a prerequisite for challenging Sir Keir Starmer for the Labor leadership and, with it, the job of prime minister.

He said he read Blair’s article three times. He added: “Not to mention the decline in living standards for millions of people and the fact that life has been difficult for most years since the financial crisis of 2008 is, in my opinion, a clear negligence on this issue. [Blair’s] analysis.”

“This has been a major driver of the upheavals in politics that he describes and the decline in support for traditional parties of the right and left, both here and around the world.”

Mr Burnham argued that “trickle-down economics ultimately didn’t trickle down very much” during the Blair years.

He also criticized the former Prime Minister’s call for loosening regulations to boost growth. to write Times: “The main reason for the crash in 2008 was the failure of regulations.

“So how could a new wave of deregulation be a reasonable response to the problems we’ve had since then?”

Instead, he argued that economic growth could only be achieved through “strong public control and direction.”

Noting the decision to bring buses back under public control in Greater Manchester, he said it was reversing “one of Thatcher’s greatest legacies”.

But he said there were issues the two men agreed on, including not reopening Brexit wounds.

“He argues, correctly, that instead of re-waging divisive debates about rejoining the European Union, our relentless focus should now be on domestic issues and solving our own fundamental problems,” he wrote.

Wes Streeting, one of Mr Burnham’s rivals to become Prime Minister, took his first steps into office by calling for Britain to rejoin the European Union.

That increased pressure on pro-EU Mr Bunrham, who was trying to win a by-election in Leave-supporting Makerfield in 2016.

Sir Tony’s scathing 5,600-article attack on Labor said the party had no clear plan for the future and warned it risked long-term harm to both itself and the country unless a fundamental reset in government was made.

In a damning indictment of a nearly two-year-old Starmer government, he said: “We have no worked out, coherent plan for the country in a rapidly changing world, and we are in the wrong political position to draw up a plan and win a second term.”

But he warned that trying to oust Sir Keir Starmer from No 10 without clear policy guidance was “not a serious course of action”.

He called on Labor to occupy the “best political space”, which he described as the “radical centre”.

This is developing news, more below…