Burnham launches charm offensive in Cardiff with ‘ask me anything’ social media video

Stephen Price

Andy Burnham has begun a ‘charm offensive’ by visiting Cardiff to ask the Welsh public ‘anything about my plans for the UK’.

In a social media post shared on Thursday 16 July, he shared: “When I said I was going to do politics differently, I meant it.

“Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in Cardiff city centre inviting people to ask me anything about my plans for the UK.”

In the video, he shares: “When I said I was going to do politics differently, I meant it.

“So here I am in the middle of Cardiff. For an in-person ask me anything. Everyone at me. Three, two, one.

The first member of the public says: “I work in the council. I work with homeless people. The big thing that we’re constantly confronted with is basically the crisis in affordable housing. I’ve heard you’ve done a lot of things in Manchester – do you have a plan?”

Burnham answers: “The simple answer is, the biggest council house building programs in the post-war period.”

Burnham then says: “My dad’s got Alzheimer’s so I’ve kind of become very familiar with the English social care situation from a you know from family, personal point of view.”

Burnham then adds: “If there’s one area that I’m going to expend quite a lot of political capital, it’s going to be on social care.”

When I said I was going to do politics differently, I meant it.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in Cardiff city centre inviting people to ask me anything about my plans for the UK. pic.twitter.com/AsPKTN0cTG

— Andy Burnham (@andyburnham) July 16, 2026

His next question from the public is: “Do you think defending the realm is the number one priority of government?

Burnham adds” “It has to be. Keeping people safe is the first responsibility of the Prime minister. You can’t flinch from that, and I don’t.”

The video then cuts to Burnham saying: “Libraries are so crucial, aren’t they, guys? They’re so important that any kid can walk into a library and expand their world.”

Talking about business support he argues: “There’s more pubs shut in now than ever. If you incentivise hospitality, it brings life to the high street. It’s got better business rates. I think we need a new regime. Where you have businesses that are bringing something to the high street and to communities. And I mean any business that brings people together. A bar, a coffee shop, a restaurant or hairdressers.”

One member of the public says: “What would be the soundtrack to your first 100 days?”

His response is: “Oh my goodness. ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow. Do you know that song? Guy Garvey, yeah, he’s absolutely wonderful actually, he’s a wonderful person.”

Another asks: “My mum’s a teacher and she’s a single parent family. What do you plan to do?”

His response is: “My brothers are both teachers. I’d favour an education system that’s more balanced between academic and technical.”

Other questions regard the job market, libraries, and acknowledgment of his work getting justice for the victims of the Hillsborough victims.

Criticism

Critics have been quick to question the vetting process for the public and other issues – including the number of Welsh people actually interviewed – however, with many also pointing out the lack of Welsh-specific policy questions and answers.

One asked: “Did he bring these members of the public with him? Not many Welsh people by the sound of it.”

Another shared: “This is more choreographed than a national ballet performance.”

One person wrote on X: “So, presumably you also made time to meet the First Minister of Wales while you were in town, before discussing issues with Cardiff residents that are devolved to the Welsh Government?”

Another wrote: “Well you’re hiding from parliament, and doing soft ball interviews about how you prefer to make a cup of tea instead of any scrutiny, so I suppose that is different. You’re going to be Starmer in jeans.”

One X user shared: “You certainly are doing politics differently. Your route to power was undemocratic and underhand. I like my PMs to have decency and integrity.”

Andy Burnham will promise to be “unashamedly Labour” when he officially becomes the party’s leader on Friday before taking over from Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister next week.

He will say in a speech that his government will have the “courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected” and the “conviction to argue for our plans”.

“A new path”

The former Greater Manchester mayor, who returned to Westminster last month as Makerfield MP, will be confirmed as Labour leader in a special conference and then enter No 10 on Monday.

Mr Burnham will set out plans to focus on economic renewal, more public control and reindustrialisation.

And he will say that Britain took “a series of wrong turns in the 1980s” when “political power was centralised and economic power privatised”.

Making the economy work for people across the UK will require “a new path to the one we’ve been on for the last 40 years”, Mr Burnham is set to say.

He will promise that the party under his leadership will be “unashamedly Labour in our priorities and in the decisions we take, putting people and places at the heart of everything we do”.

He will pledge to make the party more united under his leadership and pay tribute to Sir Keir for returning Labour to government, while praising the achievements his party has made so far since 2024, including on workers’ rights, the NHS and the passing of the Hillsborough Law.

Mr Burnham was the only candidate to get the required support to replace Sir Keir as party leader after his resignation.

He was backed by 369 of the party’s 403 MPs, far surpassing the 81 needed, and secured the support of eight of the 11 unions affiliated with the party.

Mr Burnham steps into the job at a time when his party has trailed Reform UK in opinion polls for nearly 18 months and Labour will be hoping his presence will spark a bounce and turn around its fortunes.

Sir Keir has said he believes Labour can win the next election under Mr Burnham, and that he is “proud to hand over the party in good shape” to his successor.

Questions remain about how far the former mayor’s plans will differ from Sir Keir’s agenda.

Mr Burnham has spoken about how he wants to push powers to local leaders outside Westminster as part of his devolution agenda and to create a “No 10 North” outpost of Downing Street based in Manchester.

He has said he will stick to Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules as well as manifesto pledges not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance, but declined to rule out a wealth tax in an interview this week.

The Liberal Democrats have urged him to overhaul the water industry in his first weeks as prime minister and immediately place Thames Water into a special administration regime.

The make-up of Mr Burnham’s top team in Cabinet has also not been confirmed, with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper all rumoured as potential picks for his chancellor.

He has drafted in Matthew McGregor, who has worked on elections in the UK and abroad and is currently chief executive of campaign group 38 Degrees, as his No 10 director of political strategy.

In response to Andy Burnham being crowned the Labour Party’s new leader, Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “Plaid Cymru, both in Westminster and in government in Wales, stands ready to work constructively with the incoming Prime Minister to improve the lives of people in Wales.

“The new Labour leader and next Prime Minister must take a genuinely different approach to governing if he wants to abide by his pro-devolution principles. After years of over-centralised inequality, we hope this will mark the beginning of a more respectful and productive relationship between Wales and Westminster.

“Plaid Cymru has a mandate from the people of Wales to demand greater devolution, including powers over rail, the Crown Estate, justice, and policing. Andy Burnham has talked the talk on devolution, it’s now time for him to walk the walk and respect that mandate.”

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