Andy Burnham’s localism offers Wales a chance to do devolution differently

Huw Thomas, Labour MS for Caerdydd Penarth

A visit to the People’s History Museum, where Andy Burnham spoke about the need to drive growth in every postcode by moving power from Whitehall back to communities, reveals much that charts the history of the Welsh Labour movement.

As a proud new Member of the Senedd and Welsh Labour spokesperson for finance, and, until recently, leader of Cardiff Council, I recognised much in Andy’s speech about how the British state needs to change.

His language, and the setting, spoke clearly of his desire for people and places to drive the country forward and, as he put it, to deliver “growth in every postcode.”

Nothing would be more positive for the public finances than recapturing the levels of growth this country saw before the financial crash and the disastrous years of Tory austerity that followed.

For me, the desire to improve people’s lives has always been the motivation for being in politics, and it was good to hear a speech so firmly rooted in that aim.

Whether it was his references to people being able to afford holidays and nights out, or the need to support working-class children whatever path they choose into work, it was clear that Andy was speaking for the people of Cardiff, Aberystwyth and Rhyl just as much as for those in Makerfield. Putting place above party is a direct challenge to all of us.

During my time as leader of Cardiff Council, working with councils across the city region, it is an approach I always took. I hope the newly elected Plaid Cymru government will respond in the same spirit.

The opportunity to work with someone motivated by what works, rather than by political affiliation, is not something I suspect comes naturally to them, but it is clear to me that it is what Wales needs.

The part of the speech that stood out most to me was Andy’s passion for council housing. The housing crisis has been a significant drag on public finances and has damaged lives in Wales, just as it has elsewhere.

Council housing

As a council leader who successfully made it a priority to build council housing at pace, I welcomed Andy’s commitment. His analysis was refreshing: local government has long understood that cuts to Local Housing Allowance have driven evictions from the private rented sector, shifting costs onto councils, and ballooning the waiting lists for social housing.

Temporary housing is incredibly expensive and often unsuitable. Government investment to build more Council homes – especially when combined with the suspension of Right to Buy as enacted by Welsh Labour – would create long-term assets, and rebalance the current situation where over £10 billion pounds of benefits flow annually to private landlords.

When you add the cost of temporary housing to the wider impact on other services, schools, social services and health, the financial, as well as the moral, case for building more council homes becomes undeniable.

Stable housing gives people the foundation they need to build their lives. Andy’s articulation of this was the first time I’ve heard a Westminster politician express it in a way that clearly reflects the lived reality of local government. It demonstrated that he is not someone shaped by the Whitehall machine but someone forged at the sharp end of the housing crisis.

More powers

As part of his plans to take power from Whitehall, I welcome his proposals to extend more powers to Wales. This cannot be simply concentrating more powers in Cardiff Bay however. It’s about giving local decision-makers the tools they need to respond to local circumstances. It’s about giving city-regions like Cardiff and Swansea – and indeed, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast – equal footing with their English city-region counterparts, so that entrepreneurial, accountable, local government can drive economic growth. Such changes should be seen as strengthening, not weakening, devolution.

More than anything else, what struck me was that in Andy we have a politician at ease with himself, grounded in his mission, and closely connected to the people he wants to serve.

That is something working in local government gives you, a closeness to the challenges of people’s day-to-day lives that can sometimes be lost in the countless offices of Whitehall departments or the corridors of the Welsh Government in Cathays Park.

I welcome this injection of localism into our politics and look forward to what comes next.